Titans' Song
by Lord Belgarion
Summary: Reposting. Not quite as fun as a train wreck. 100% unedited with all of the typos and grammar homicides you love.
1. Countrified Relations

_"There's no rodeo here." - Raven_

_**CHAPTER ONE**_

_**COUNTRIFIED RELATIONS**_

It was a fairly normal morning in Titans Tower. Beast Boy and Cyborg, while definitely not the first two members of the Teen Titans to wake up, were, in fact, the first two to reach the huge common room where the team usually hung out.

Cyborg immediately hooked up the Playcube-X2 video game console to the wide-screen television that was almost as big as a movie theater screen and began playing the newest installment of the racing game Midnight Club Racing. Beast Boy, instead of joining him as usual, stepped into the kitchen and began rummaging through their refrigerator, since it was his turn to cook breakfast. For once, the tower was stocked with fresh food and the little green changeling deposited the pans, bread, tofu and other assorted items he would need on the counter. Then, in an almost business-like fashion, he placed a white chef's hat on his head and then wrapped an apron of the same color around his waist. It would have been a comical sight for a stranger, but it didn't really matter too much in the tower, since Beast Boy always looked comical, anyway.

The most mysterious member of the group, Raven, entered the room a few minutes later. The hood of her dark blue cloak was down between her shoulder blades and she carried a thick, ancient book in one hand. She quietly sat on the futon couch on one side of the room, not even affording Cyborg or Beast Boy a single glance. Once seated, she daintily crossed her legs, placed her book on her lap and buried her face into it.

Meanwhile, Cyborg was inching his way closer and closer to the edge of the main couch he was sitting on in the center of the room. His red Ferrari continued to pass other sports cars as it sped at insane speeds down the virtual streets of Gotham City.

"Come on, come on, come on," He chanted to himself with increasing fervor as the race drew inexorably to a close. "Just a little bit more...Yes! Ha! Oh, yeah!"

"From the sound of it, Cy, you're either about to beat my best time or you're doing something indecent with an invisible girlfriend no one knows about." Beast Boy grinned at his friend from the kitchen.

"Shut up, BB!" Cyborg yelled back at him irritably. "You're gonna make me mess--Ah!"

At that exact moment an opposing car rammed into Cyborg's Ferrari's side, sending the red roadster careening out of control into a nearby skyscraper, where it burst into flames and exploded. Cyborg immediately threw down his controller and turned angrily towards the kitchen.

"Beast Boy!" He thundered at the top of his lungs. "You just made me crash!"

"I know!" Beast Boy replied gleefully from his place on the floor where he was clutching his sides in high-pitched laugher. "I am _so_ good!"

Cyborg growled in frustration and pointed an accusing finger at his pointy-eared friend.

"I'm gonna stick my foot so far up your-"

**DING! DONG!**

Suddenly, both Cyborg and Beast Boy stopped their argument at the alien noise.

"Uh, what was that?" Cyborg asked.

"Maybe it's a Hostess snack out for revenge?" Beast Boy joked weakly.

Raven sighed irritable at the two adolescent boys.

"It's the doorbell." She told them dryly.

"Oh,"

"Right."

Both of them retreated. Beast Boy padded back to the kitchen and Cyborg sat back down on the couch.

**DING! DONG!**

"Someone really ought to answer that." Beast Boy commented nonchalantly, making a great showing of stirring something in a plastic bowl.

"Yep." Cyborg answered as calmly as if he were talking about the weather, his fingers dancing over the buttons of the controller he had picked up off the floor.

**DING! DONG!**

"We shouldn't let whoever that is stand out there that long."

"Yep."

**DING! DONG!**

"I hope that's not someone important, like the mayor or a supermodel or something."

"Yep."

All through out this exchange, a small vein of frustration was slowly growing on Raven's forehead.

"If it bothers you so much, why don't you go answer it?" She asked Beast Boy pointedly.

"I can't." He replied innocently. "I'm right in the middle of making breakfast."

Raven turned her head towards Cyborg, who caught her gaze out of the corner of his eye as he continued to furiously mash the controller's buttons.

"Sorry, Raye." He said, though he didn't sound sorry in the slightest. "I'm right in the middle of a race."

"Isn't there a 'pause' button?"

"Not on this game!" Cyborg lied glibly.

Raven sighed in defeat.

"Fine," she clipped, slamming her book shut and standing up. "I'll go answer it. At the very least, it will give me an excuse to get away from the two of you."

"That cut deep, Raven." Beast Boy said, feigning a hurt expression just before Raven entered the elevator that would take her to the bottom floor. To top it off, he held his hand theatrically to his chest.

"I wish it did." The half-demon girl muttered just before the parallel, metal doors closed shut with a whoosh. On the way down, she pulled her hood up over her face.

Raven could see who the visitor was as soon as the elevator doors opened on the bottom floor, since the mains doors of the tower were glass. When she first laid eyes on him, she was hit with a shock that was felt almost, but not quite, like recognition.

It was a teenage boy, about six feet tall with a frame slightly larger than Robin's. He had long, dark brown hair that fell out from under his black cowboy hat and he had a tanned face. A pair of small, silver eyeglasses rested lightly upon his nose. He wore tight blue jeans, a black, sleeveless shirt and a pair of black cowboy boots. In his left hand he carried a large black sack filled to capacity. And Raven thought _she_ liked the color black... Strapped diagonally across the young man's back was a wooden, acoustic guitar. Raven opened the door a crack and peered up at the stranger.

"There's no rodeo here." She deadpanned.

The teen blinked at that, obviously not sure if the girl had been joking or not.

"I'm aware of that, miss." He said after a moment. "I just want to talk to Robin."

"Yes, and so do half of the teenage girls in the city."

The stranger coughed uncomfortably.

"For different reasons, I'm sure." He assured Raven quickly, his voice tinged slightly with a southern accent.

Raven's unblinking gaze didn't falter, and the boy began to grow uncomfortable. Under any other circumstance, Raven would have turned him away, but she felt something in him. Something familiar...a magic of some kind. Wordlessly, she opened the door a bit more and began to walk back to the elevator. The boy, taking this as a silent invitation, quickly scurried into the tower and fell in behind her. The teen seemed a bit confused as they entered the elevator.

"Aren't you going to ask me why I want to talk with Robin?" He asked.

"Nope." Raven said flatly.

His expression grew even more puzzled.

"Aren't you even going to ask me my name?" He pressed. "You know, I could be some diabolical spy or somethin'."

If Raven did not have to keep her emotions strictly under control, she might have laughed at that.

"You don't look very 'diabolical'."

The teen nodded thoughtfully.

"Maybe I should grow a long, black mustache." He mused. "That might help."

Raven knew he was joking, but his voice was gravely serious. She perceived immediately that this young man had a very dry sense of humor, just like someone else she knew...

Beast Boy was the first to see them when they stepped out through the double doors as the elevator arrived back in the living room.

"Uh, Raven?" He asked. "Why is John Wayne standing behind you?"

"You know that ain't John Wayne." Cyborg admonished his friend mockingly. "It must be Raven's new boyfriend."

The teen blushed at that, but Raven seemed unperturbed.

"He needs to speak with Robin." She explained coldly, before opening up her communicator. Robin's face seemed strangely pained when it appeared on the tiny screen.

"Please tell me there's an emergency." He pleaded desperately.

Raven blinked.

"Why?"

"I cut my hand fine tuning one of my birdarangs and Star persists on reciting the Tamarran song of condolence to me. All sixteen hundred and thirty two lines of it!"

"There's a man here to see you. That should give you an excuse. I think he wants to be a Titan."

"How did you-" The long-haired teen began, but Robin was already talking.

"Good, I'll be right there." With that, the image on the communicator faded to black.

Robin arrived a few minutes later, with Starfire following close behind. There was a small white bandage on his left palm and the stranger immediately shook his good hand.

"Howdy. Nice to meet ya, Robin." The boy told him politely. "My name's-"

"Wait a minute," Robin stopped him quickly, even as Beast Boy looked up at Cyborg and mouthed the word 'howdy' to him with an unbelievable expression on his face. "If you ARE going to be a part of the Teen Titans, you shouldn't tell us your real name."

One of the teen's eyebrows raised slightly in puzzlement.

"Why not?"

Cyborg grinned

"'Cause Robin's a suspicious, ultra-paranoid compulsive-"

"We can't reveal what we don't know." Robin told the teen, shooting a venomous glare at Cyborg. He turned back to the newcomer. "Now, what makes you think you have what it takes to be a Titan?"

The boy adjusted the cowboy hat on his head nervously.

"Well," he said. "I know a little bit of magic."

"Magic?"

The teen nodded and pointed over his shoulder at his guitar.

"This instrument is magical." He explained, pivoting the guitar to his front to show them. "Whenever I play certain notes and chords together, I get a magical effect."

"Where did it come from?"

"It was my grandfather's, he played in a local band." The teen said. "I don't know where it came from before that, but I do know there's not another like it."

"Magic?" Starfire asked, a bit puzzled. "You do not mean that you can pull rabbits out of this...contraption of yours, do you not?"

The boy laughed good-naturedly.

"Not exactly, ma'am." He told her. "It's more like...Well, let me show you."

He took a step back from them and began to sing softly as he plucked the strings of his guitar.

_Like a feather flying high up in the sky on a windy day, I get carried away..._

Just as the melody ended, a strong wind whipped up underneath the boy. He quickly positioned his guitar back behind him again and put one hand on his cowboy hat to keep it in place. Then, slowly, the wind began to lift him until he was hovering perhaps five feet off the ground.

"Neat trick," Robin whistled.

The other Titans also seemed suitably impressed, except for Raven, of course, who simply stared at the feat dispassionately. Again she felt that strange, passing feeling of familiarity.

The guitar playing cowboy, seeing that they had all witnessed the display, muttered a word under his breath and resettled back to the floor.

"That explains how he got here." Raven stated calmly.

The cowboy nodded. "I brought along my steel horse, too. I hope that's all right."

The Titans blinked in confusion at him together.

"My motorcycle," he explained.

"Well," Robin said to him. "You have talent, if nothing else. How would you like to be a Titan Apprentice?"

Robin chuckled politely when he saw the young cowboy frown.

"You didn't think you could just waltz in here and become a Titan just like that, did you?"

The boy took off his hat and scratched the back of his head.

"Well," he admitted. "I didn't really think that far ahead..."

**BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!**

"Trouble!" Robin announced, quickly moving over to the computer that was grafted into one of the walls. "Looks like Cinderblock is trying to...uh, to break _into_ jail?"

"Er, I thought the point was to break _out_ of jail." Beast Boy said, his voice slightly perplexed.

"At least he's being original." Raven said dryly.

"He was probably hired to break someone out." Robin guessed. "Titans, go!"

They were almost to the door when Robin dug in his heels abruptly and skidded to halt, causing Cyborg to nearly run into his back.

"What gives, man?" The half-robot asked.

"Someone needs to stay here with, um, Cowboy." Robin told them.

"I'll stay." Raven volunteered quietly.

"Thanks, Raven." Robin said. "By the way, go ahead and give him the Initiation Contract while we're gone."

With that, he and the other Titans left hurriedly and room quickly became noticeably quiet. Strangely, the silence was not uncomfortable between the two teens.

"Uh, what's the Initiation Contract?" The teen Robin had referred to as 'Cowboy' asked curiously eventually.

"Robin believes it's customary to bore Titan prospects into insensibility, for some reason." She said dryly as she walked over to the computer and printed out several documents. She gathered up the papers and turned to sit at the kitchen table, only to stop dead in her tracks when she found that Cowboy was holding out a chair for her to sit in.

"What are you doing?" She demanded.

"Um, I'm holding out the chair out for you..."

"Why?"

"Because it's the polite thing to do?" He said weakly under her scrutiny.

"Thank you," she finally forced out through her teeth, the words seeming alien upon her lips.

Slowly, very slowly, she sat down in the chair. Had it been anyone else, she would have told them she was quite capable of sitting down without any assistance. But it felt as if she knew this man; it felt as if she had known him all his life. Clearing those thoughts from his mind, she waited until Cowboy had sat himself down opposite of her and got down to business.

"What's your name?" She asked, picking up a pen from the center of the table.

Cowboy blinked.

"I thought Robin said I wasn't supposed to tell anyone my name."

"I meant your superhero name." Raven explained.

"Oh, I haven't really thought about it." Cowboy said, then leaned back in his chair, thinking. "How 'bout, um, 'Melody'?"

Raven raised an eyebrow, noticing just as she did it that Cowboy had made the exact same facial expression several times since coming into the tower. She quickly shrugged it off to coincidence.

"Doesn't that name sound a bit...feminine?" She asked.

Cowboy scratched the back of his neck ruefully.

"It does, doesn't it?" He thought for a moment more. "How about 'Gunslinger'?"

Raven stared at him blankly.

"You don't have any guns." She told him bluntly.

"Oh, right."

This time Cowboy closed his eyes as he thought.

"All right," he said at last. "I have it! I'll be the Bard!"

Raven lowered her hood to look thoughtfully at him.

"Why did you pick that name?" Her voice, for once, was not completely indifferent. Cowboy received the notion that she was genuinely curious.

"In the older days, normal people called storytellers bards." He explained. "Most bards simply told stories on the street for charity, but some of them used to have an instrument to play while they told their stories."

"So you see yourself as a storyteller?" Raven pressed, her sudden curiosity surprising her.

"Well, not exactly." Bard said. "I sing songs on the guitar, though, and I write stories in my spare time. That's close enough, don't you think?"

"I suppose so." Raven answered, forcing the indifference into her voice again as she gracefully filled the information in on the document. For some reason, Bard seemed extremely familiar to her, as well as intriguing.

"Age?" She asked, reading off the inquires on the sheet before her.

"Eighteen,"

"Sex?"

When she didn't get an answer, Raven looked up to find that Bard was simply staring at her with amusement in his dark, blue eyes. Strangely, Raven didn't fell the slightest bit embarrassed under his obvious gaze. Again, that familiarity was kicking in.

"Oh, right." She said calmly, marking it off on the document.

"Superpowers?"

"Uh, magic?" He said, not sure if that was the word he was looking for. "Well, they're kind of like yours, actually."

"How so?" Raven sighed inwardly as soon as the question sprang from her lips. Good thing she wasn't a cat...

"I've studied the few tapes the local news channels have gotten of you and the rest of the Titans fighting." Bard told her. "I know that you usually use those magic words, um, 'Azreth Metron Zinthos'?"

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos," Raven corrected him.

"Right," Bard acknowledged her. "Anyway, you usually say those words when you use your powers, the same way I sing when I use mine. But I don't necessarily have to sing when I use them and you don't necessarily have to chant those words when you use yours, right?"

Raven nodded as she let that sink in. Another coincidence.

"Hobbies?"

Bard chuckled slightly.

"Are we filling out an initiation form for the Teen Titans or a dating service?"

"Just answer the question."

"All right, all right." Bard said, holding his hands up slightly in surrender. "Let's see, playing guitar, of course, basketball, writing stories, reading...I guess that's about it."

"Reading?" Raven asked him, her eyes slightly unbelieving. "You don't strike me as the reading type."

"You don't strike me as the curious type, either." Bard shot back good-naturedly.

"Touché," Raven muttered as she filled out the information.

"Family?" Raven asked then, though she felt slightly strange asking that particular question to Bard.

"I never knew my father." Bard told her as casually as he could, thought Raven could still hear the underlying hurt in his voice. "My mother died a few years after I was born."

Another coincidence. They were starting to get a bit annoying. Just then, a sudden thought hit her; a very surprising thought.

"Um, Bard?" She asked hesitantly.

"Yes?"

"Do you...ever have nightmares?"

"Of course," he shrugged. "Everyone has nightmares." He paused for a moment. "Is this part of the Initiation thing?"

"No, this is coming from me." Raven told him. "What I meant was, do you have any _recurring_ nightmares?"

Bard looked a bit suspicious.

"As a matter of fact I do, but-"

"Describe them to me."

It seemed to Raven that Bard might protest to that, but then he sighed.

"I'm in a strange place." He said finally. "It's dark and rocky and it just seems to go on forever. There are these weird, evil-looking creatures everywhere. Then, this giant, blood red...demon starts walking towards me. He's got four, glowing slanting eyes, one pair on top of the other, and he looks at me. He looks at me with disappointment, as if I'm some kind of...mistake, or something. Then he just disappears or simply lumbers off."

Raven looked up at the ceiling after he was finished, her eyes far away.

"I know who your father is," she said calmly.

Bard's eyes widened.

"You do?!"

"Do you have a religion, Bard?"

"Yeah," Bard nodded though his confusion. "I'm a Christian, why?"

"You would know your father as 'Satan', then."

Bard's eyes almost bulged out of his head.

"Are you trying to tell me I'm the Antichrist?" He asked her incredulously.

"Not exactly," she told him blandly. Almost as an afterthought, she added: "I guess we'll have to change the family part of your Initiation Contract."

"I don't think I want the Titans to know that my dad happens to be Lucifer."

"I'm not adding you father to the list, Bard." She told him as she began to write. "I'm adding your sister."

Bard blinked, several times. He was _really_ confused now.

"I have a sister?" He asked.

Raven looked up to lock eyes with him.

"I'm your sister, Bard."

Bard took the information in calmly enough, though his eyes suddenly seemed to be a bit wild. It was obvious that he had a shocking news overload. He slowly rose to his feet, walked over to the couch, unstrapped his guitar from his back and safely leaned it against the armrest of the piece of furniture.

Then, he looked at Raven one last time before he promptly collapsed onto the floor.


	2. The Color Green

_"You're my brother, remember? Therefore, you must be at least marginally intelligent." - Raven_

_**CHAPTER TWO**_

_**THE COLOR GREEN**_

Bard groaned and brought a hand to his forehead as he came to.

"I just had the weirdest dream." He muttered. "I dreamed I was in Titans Tower and Raven told me--Oh."

He had opened his eyes and saw Raven on her knees beside him, looking down at him with a concerned look upon her face.

"Are you okay?" She asked him.

Bard nodded slowly, sitting up slightly to lean back on his elbows.

"Guess that wasn't much of a dream, huh?"

"Guess not." Raven replied, her voice monotone.

Just then, the door to the living room opened and Cyborg's hearty laugh could be plainly heard.

"C'mon, Cy!" They heard Beast Boy wail with his high pitched voice. "It wasn't _that_ funny!"

"I still can't believe you forgot to take off that apron, BB!" Cyborg laughed again, slapping his knee in his merriment.

"I told you, Cy, I did it on purpose!" Beast Boy defended himself lamely. "It got Cinderblock off guard long enough for us to bash him, didn't it?"

"You mean he was too busy laughing at your grass-stained self to put up a fight." Cyborg insisted, still grinning from ear to metallic ear.

"Um, guys?" Starfire said, looking around as they entered the room. "Where is Raven and our new cow friend?"

"We're here." Bard and Raven said at the exact same time, simultaneously standing up.

Robin, obviously as surprised as the rest of the group, blinked several times at the duo.

"Uh, what were you guys doing behind the couch?" He asked them, his voice boyish voice cracking slightly.

"Raye, Raye, Raye," Cyborg said to Raven, waving a finger at her as if he were the accusing parent and she was a guilty-looking child who had just stolen a cookie from the cookie jar. "The cowboy's only been here for about an hour and you're already making out with him!" He paused. "Though you usually make out _on_ the couch, not behind it!"

"He fell," Raven deadpanned, her eyes slanted dangerously. "I was simply helping him to his feet."

"Riiiiight," Beast Boy said sarcastically, though there was something else in his voice; something very much like sadness.

Meanwhile, Bard had picked up his guitar and placed it once again upon his back.

"If you'll excuse me, I need some fresh air." He said to them politely. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

"I'll go with you," Raven told him, and the two quickly entered the elevator before anyone could stop them.

Robin scratched at his spiky black hair with one gloved finger.

"Is it just me?" He asked the others. "Or are they acting _really_ weird?"

The Boy Wonder pondered that for a moment, but then he shrugged and walked off to the kitchen, with Starfire close behind, inquiring about the earthly act of 'making out'. He "didn't notice" the tofu breakfast Beast Boy had laid out on the counter and scrounged through the refrigerator for something to eat. Maybe they had some leftover pizza from last night...

Back next to the double doors leading into the room, Cyborg and Beast Boy still hadn't moved.

"So...wanna play some game?" Cyborg finally asked his friend.

"Uh, yeah." Beast Boy answered as they made their way over to the couch, but he didn't sound nearly as enthusiastic as usual.

Meanwhile, Raven and Bard were sitting on the edge of the roof of Titans Tower with their legs dangling over the side. When they were comfortable, Bard reached into the pocket of his snug fitting blue jeans and brought out a black lighter and a pack of Marlboro cigarettes. Raven stared at him in mild amazement.

"You smoke?" She asked him, though the answer was quite obvious.

"I'm in the process of quitting." Bard told her, even as he took a cigarette from the red, box pack. He then put it to his lips and lit it.

"How can you smoke and get fresh air at the same time?"

Bard shrugged indifferently.

"I guess I'm just talented like that." He answered. "Maybe I'm ambidextrous."

"Robin's not going to like it."

"I said I'm in the process of quitting." Bard defended himself blandly, taking another toke from the cigarette.

"I bet," Raven said dryly. "He won't let you smoke in the tower, you know, or in public."

"I can't smoke in public?" Bard asked, turning his head to look at her.

"If you're going to be a Titan, you have to be a role model, too." Raven reminded him.

"Oh, guess I hadn't thought about it quite like that..." Bard admitted.

There was a long moment of silence as the two of them simply looked over the dark, blue water at the city.

"Do you believe what I told you?" Raven asked finally, breaking their quiet scrutiny of the city.

"Of course," Bard said a bit dryly. "Would a sister lie to her brother?"

"I'm serious." Raven said. "I'm a bit surprised you believed me so easily."

Bard tilted his head back to look up at the cloudless, blue sky, his eyes, the same color as the ocean far below, seemed far away.

"I kinda already knew." He confided in her unhesitatingly. "Ever since I could remember, I knew I was different. When I inherited that enchanted guitar from my grandpa, I thought that was the answer. But I never imagined it would be...like this."

"You've never had trouble with your emotions, then?"

Bard cocked one of his eyebrows quizzically at her.

"How do you mean?" He asked her.

"Things don't...blow up when your emotions get out of hand?" Raven asked him right back.

He shook his head, thinking ruefully to himself that women always answered questions with questions of their own.

"Why is that?" Raven said quietly, mostly to herself. "Maybe it's because I'm the only gateway Trigon can use for some reason..."

"Trigon?"

"Our father," Raven explained. "It's the name he goes by the most. People seem to be a little prejudiced against the name 'Lucifer', for some reason."

Bard laughed shortly as he took another drag off of his cigarette.

"I wonder why?" He asked sarcastically.

"When I lose control of my emotions, my powers take a mind of their own." Raven continued. "If my emotions ever get _too_ out of hand, Trigon can use me as a portal to enter this world. That's why I have to be _very_ careful with my emotions, since they could trigger an early Apocalypse. What I'm trying to figure out now is why your powers stay under control when you're emotions get too strong..."

After a few moment of thinking the answer suddenly, came to her.

"It's because you channel you powers through your guitar." She announced calmly. "You believe you can only make things happen when your playing it, so your powers don't come forth while you're not. Chances are, you're emotions never get out of hand while your singing a song."

Bard nodded somberly, letting that sink in as he continued to smoke his cigarette.

"That's good, I guess." He said, though he didn't sound too happy. "I just feel so sorry for you. All your life you've never been able to show the part of you that makes you human. I don't think I could do it. It would be ter-"

Just then, his cigarette coalesced into a burning white fireball about as big as a man's head. Then it shot out like a rocket towards the city. Raven quickly levitated to her feet.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" She cried out her ritualistic magic words, her eyes glowing white.

Her hands were held out in front of her as if she was gripping the glowing sphere that was catapulting towards the city. The white fireball was suddenly surrounded by black, obsidian energy and it turned sharply, changing it's trajectory down towards the sighing ocean. With the combined energy of Bard's and Raven's powers, the fireball made a huge explosion when it hit the sea, which caused an enormous amount of water to be flung high into the air; only to come down on the two siblings, soaking them to the bone.

Raven took a very deep breath and began to wring out her cape. Bard, similarly, took off his cowboy hat to dump the water out of it's brim and tried, not very successfully, to dry his silver eyeglasses on his equally wet shirt before replacing them back upon his face.

"Oops." He drawled dryly, (or wetly, if you prefer), as he placed the hat back upon his head. "I might have to quit smoking sooner than I thought."

Raven nodded, not exactly trusting herself to answer that.

"Maybe I shouldn't have told you that your guitar isn't magic. It looks as if I'm going to have to teach you to mediate as well." She added.

Bard pivoted his guitar from his back to his lap.

"Looks like I'm gonna lose the name Bard, since I don't really need this thing." He fingered the instrument forlornly.

Raven shook her head.

"You should keep it." She told him. "Like you said, that guitar is similar to my magic words. It makes your powers stronger."

**BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!**

"Great timing," Raven muttered as she reached into her cape for her communicator. She opened it to see Robin's face on it's tiny screen.

"Raven," he said, his voice slightly skewered by the electronic device because of the water. "I need you and, uh..."

"Bard," Raven supplied.

"Bard?" Robin asked. "All right, I need you and Bard to come down for a team meeting."

"We'll be there in a few minutes, we need to-"

"You can flirt with him later." Robin said firmly. "We need you down here now."

And with that, the screen on the communicator went black.

"Remind me to kill Robin." Raven told Bard between gritted teeth.

"Will do," he assured her as they began to walk towards the elevator.

"How are we going to explain why we're all wet?" Raven muttered to herself.

Bard shrugged nonchalantly.

"Just tell them we went skinny dipping."

Raven stared at him with an expression on her face that could have withered a tree.

"Don't you normally take off your clothes when you do that?"

Bard blinked.

"Not to mention that would probably be considered incest." He added with a shudder. "Oh, by the way, kill Robin."

"What?" Raven asked as they entered the elevator.

"You told me to remind you to kill Robin."

"I know that, Bard, but I didn't expect you to tell me so soon."

"I know," Bard chuckled softly. "That was the fun part."

Raven rolled her eyes as the elevator descended.

Everyone stared, dumfounded at the sight of the soaking wet duo as they stepped out of the elevator.

"This is starting to become a habit." Bard whispered exasperatingly into Raven's ear.

"Tell me about it." She whispered back.

"What in the _world_ happened to you guys?" Cyborg demanded.

"_Don't_ want to talk about it." Raven told him curtly.

"Is it raining outside?" Robin asked, unconsciously looking towards the window.

"Not anymore." Raven deadpanned. "Could we get on with this?"

Robin nodded, stood up straight and began to talk to them in the 'leader voice' that he probably wasn't even aware he used or even had.

"We were able to stop Cinderblock, with a little extra help from Beast Boy." He said, pausing momentarily to smirk at the little green changeling. Beast Boy looked away, pretending as if he didn't notice the look. "But some prisoners were allowed to escape in all the ruckus."

"Who?" Raven asked.

"Mumbo Jumbo, Killer Moth and Control Freak." He informed her. "Killer Moth and Control Freak will probably lay low for a while, since Control Freak will have to build a new remote and Killer Moth will probably want to try to free Kitten from the juvenile prison she's in. Mumbo Jumbo, on the other hand, might cause trouble a lot sooner."

"I sure don't know why Killer Moth would want to free Kitten." Cyborg said, shaking his head and making the sign against evil with his fingers. "She's a brat if I ever saw one!"

"_I_ wouldn't want to spring her, either." Robin agreed. "But she _is_ his daughter."

"Who's Kitten?" Bard asked.

"Kitten is the most _vile, despicable, evil, ugly human being _on the planet!" Starfire told him so heatedly that it seemed as if her head had grown three times larger, her normal pretty green eyes filled with fire and her normally, straight, white teeth were giant fangs. Bard sweat dropped.

"Ooookay." He said, holding up his hands as if to indicate to her that he had meant no harm.

"Since you know him so well anyway, Raven." Robin said to Raven slyly, while sending Bard a knowing look. "Why don't you and Bard go down and stake out the juvenile prison? I have a hunch that Killer Moth will end up there, sooner or later."

"What?!" Beast Boy burst out indignantly. "Barred over there hasn't even gone through the obstacle course yet!" He paused for a moment, thinking. "What kind of name is Barred, anyway?"

"It's-" Bard began, but Raven reached up and touched him lightly on the shoulder.

"It's not worth the trouble, Bard." She told him. "Trust me."

"He'll just have to do his training in the field, Beast Boy." Robin decided. "While they're doing that, we need to track down Mumbo Jumbo and Control Freak!"

"Pssh!" Beast boy crossed his arms tightly across his chest, obviously upset.

"C'mon BB," Cyborg said, nudging him on the shoulder with his elbow. "Bard over there will have plenty of time to beat your record on the obstacle course after we round up all the baddies!"

Obviously, that teasing remark didn't cheer him up very much.

"Are you ready to change, Bard?" Raven asked.

Bard nodded and the two headed back to the elevator...again. It seemed to Bard that he had spent more time in that blasted elevator than anywhere else in the tower.

"Before you go, Raven." Robin called to her. "Is there any information in Bard's Initiation Contract I need to look at?"

Bard held his breath, trying to keep his sudden anxiety under control. The secret would _really_ be blown if his powers acted up again. He wasn't really sure they were keeping their relationship a secret, though he expected that Raven might want to, at least for the time being.

"No," Raven lied calmly. "It was all fairly rudimentary."

With that, the elevator doors closed. Bard let out an explosive breath of relief.

Raven looked up and over at her brother during their decent.

"Do you have a change of clothes?" She asked him.

Bard held up the black sack he had carried in.

"I'm sure some them are still dry." He told her.

"The bathroom's over there." Raven pointed out a door with a blue sign that had the picture of both a male and a female on it when they stepped out of the elevator. "I'll meet you on the bottom floor."

Bard nodded and Raven disappeared down a dark hallway.

Bard finished changing quickly and was the first one down to the lobby of the tower. A few minutes later, Raven joined him, wearing her customary blue cape and leotard.

"Big change," She said to her brother as she lifted up her hood. He still wore the same cowboy boots and hat, his jeans were now black, however, and his sleeveless shirt was now gray.

"I could say the same for you, dear sister." Bard replied, pointing at her uniform.

That word hit Raven fairly hard, for some reason. True, he had called her 'sister' up on the roof, but he was joking then. Now, even though his smooth, southern voice was sarcastic, he had seriously called her family. Raven had never had family that she could remember, unless, of course, you counted the Teen Titans, and the feelings that erupted inside her scared her. It was the feeling that she finally...belonged. Sensing that her powers were about to erupt along with her emotions, she quickly suppressed the feeling.

"Are you ready to go?" She asked.

Bard nodded and held open the glass door for her. Raven smirked slightly at him as she passed through it. In this day and age, it was very strange to find any teenager, much less one that was half-demon, that still had manners.

Bard's motorcycle was standing just outside. It was a Harley Davidson, and it was considerably larger than Robin's R-Cycle, though it was obviously nowhere near as fast or flashy. The body of it was black, and everything else was a shiny, polished chrome.

"Nice bike," Raven observed quietly.

"Thanks," Bard told her, tying his guitar to the lower part of the front handle bars. "You want to ride?"

A 'no thank you' was immediately on Raven's tongue, but the words couldn't escape her lips, for some reason. She would have certainly refused had it been anyone else, but...she felt comfortable around Bard, thought she wasn't sure why. It was probably their blood tie. It was a tie of demon blood, to be sure, but it was a bond all the same.

"Sure," she said instead, surprising even herself.

Bard straddled the bike, then turned to offer a hand to her. Raven seized his naked, outstretched hand gratefully and...nothing happened. Bard could see the consternation on her face.

"What's the matter?" He asked.

"Whenever I touch someone, I catch a glimpse of their mind and thoughts." Raven explained. "That is why I'm so adamant about people not touching me."

"So what's the problem?" Bard asked her. "You didn't like my thoughts?"

Raven shook her head.

"I didn't see anything."

Bard chuckled slightly at that.

"I never knew I was _that_ stupid." He said.

Raven shook her head again, more firmly this time.

"You're not stupid." She told him forcefully.

Bard raised an eyebrow at her.

"How would you know?"

"You're _my_ brother, remember?" Raven reminded him. "Therefore, you must be at least _marginally _intelligent."

Bard simply smirked at her as he helped her into the seat behind him.

During all of this, the two siblings were unaware that they were being watched. Beast Boy stood by the window in the tower's living room, looking down at them, his face clearly not happy.

"That is _so_ wrong!" He declared hotly.

"What is?" Cyborg asked, coming over to the window.

"That!" Beast Boy said, pointing down to where Raven had just slipped behind Bard on the motorcycle. "She's getting all...huggy huggy with him!"

"Uh, she's about to ride on the back of the motorcycle, B." Cyborg pointed out. "If she doesn't hold on, she'll fall off the back."

Beast Boy grunted sourly.

"Still," he said. "She doesn't have to get _that_ close to him, does she?"

"What's the matter, B?" Cyborg teased his friend. "Jealous?"

"Jealous?" Beast Boy spluttered. "I'm not jealous! I don't even like Raven like that!"

"Then why is your face green?"

"Dude, that was _so_ not funny, Cy."

With that, the two watched as the motorcycle silently roared to life and sped across the island. Bard reached down in front of him and played a few chords on the guitar just before they reached the water, and the strong wind they had seen early picked them up. The Harley sped across the frothing waves, with the supernatural wind flapping Raven's cape dramatically around them.


	3. Pretty In Pink

_"I'm not afraid of heights, I'm afraid of the falling and dying part." - Bard_

_**CHAPTER THREE**_

_**PRETTY IN PINK**_

The juvenile prison was perhaps forty five minutes outside the city limits, isolated high up in the mountains. The magical wind Bard had conjured up before with his guitar had placed them back on the ground once they had crossed the ocean to the mainland, and Raven found that she had actually enjoyed the ride up the twisting roads of the high peaks as dark, green trees that didn't die during the winter passed them on both sides. It was very refreshing.

They went off road and stopped on a high, grassy bluff perhaps a hundred feet high where they could look down on the prison. It was a collection of red brick buildings, complete with an exercise field and surrounded by a high, barbwire fence. Bard turned off the ignition of the bike, dismounted and turned to help Raven do they same. Then he looked around appraisingly as the high mountains, green grass and trees, and the clear blue sky above them. He sat down, leaning his back against a trunk of a nearby tree and took off his hat and placed it on the ground beside him.

"Now I'm home." He said contently, breathing in the fresh, mountain air deeply.

Raven felt freer out here in the countryside as well, at least she would, she figured, until the bugs found her. No pun intended, of course. She removed her cape and laid it out carefully on the ground next to Bard. Then she slowly lowered herself and sat cross-legged on it to share the spectacular view with her brother.

"So," Bard said, taking off his glasses for the first time and hanging them on the collar of his shirt. "Do you really think this Killer Moth will show up?"

Raven shrugged. "It's only natural for a father to rescue his children." She paused, her face somber. "Most of them, anyway."

"As far as I'm concerned, Trigon can stay in Hell where he belongs." Bard declared bitterly, understanding what his sister had been hinting at. He paused for a moment, containing the sudden resentment inside him so that his powers would remain in check. Then he looked back over at Raven. "Do you remember your mother at all?"

"She was with me long enough to explain my situation." Raven answered and then sighed. "She's gone now. I...I don't really want to talk about it."

"I'm sorry," Bard sympathized.

"So what about you, do you remember your mother?"

Bard blinked in surprise, but then laughed ruefully at himself.

"I reckon I should have known that was coming." He said and then his eyes glittered strangely as he continued. "I remember the smell of my mother's perfume and the gentle touch of her hands and her love for me, but I can't remember her face...Weird, huh?"

"What happened to her?"

"I don't know." Bard told her a bit shortly. "I was too young to remember. No one ever told me, and I never tried to find out. It's better that way."

"Maybe," Raven conceded and the familiar silence fell between them again.

The sun reached it's pinnacle overhead, signifying the fact that it was noon. Below them, the underage criminals began to file out into the exercise yard.

"Look," Raven said to her brother, pointing down at the prison. "They're coming out."

Bard quickly put his silver spectacles back on.

"You can't see without your glasses?" Raven asked him.

"I can't see at _all_ without them." He told her, making a face. "I'm legally blind. Now, which one is Kitten?" He squinted down the at the congregations of teenagers below.

"I don't see her yet." Raven said, scanning the area with her eyes. "But keep your ears open."

"Uh, don't you mean 'keep your _eyes_ open'?"

"No," Raven said tonelessly. "I meant exactly what I said. Kitten has a very...penetrating voice. We'll be able to hear her. Trust me."

It didn't take the blonde teenage girl long to reveal herself.

"I want the basketball!" A high-pitched screech floated up to them. "I want it and I want it now! Now! _Now! NOW! __**NOW!**_"

"Spirited, ain't she?" Bard asked sarcastically.

"That's one word for it, I suppose..."

Bard looked at his sister curiously.

"Why does Starfire hate her so much?" He asked her.

"Um..."

"You don't have to tell me if it's a secret or something." Bard told her.

Raven shrugged.

"It is, but it's an obvious one." She answered. "Killer Moth blackmailed Robin once into taking Kitten to the prom."

Bard laughed out loud at that, a deep, full throated laughter coming from his throat. That is, until white sparks began to emit from his fingers. He quickly calmed himself.

"Sorry," He said, still laughing, albeit quieter. "Have the bad guys run out of diabolical ideas or what?" He chuckled one last time before turning to Raven again. "So Starfire likes Robin, huh?"

"I'm surprised you haven't figured it out already."

"I only saw them together for about ten minutes." Bard reminded her blandly.

"That should have been _more_ than enough time." Raven said dryly.

"Jealous?" Bard asked jokingly.

"I don't think so." Raven deadpanned, staring at hard at him. "Besides, I can't become that personal with _anybody_."

"I was just teasin'! Hey, wait a minute, if you can't, that means..." He shuddered at the thought, sighed and turned his attention back to the blonde haired girl near the exercise yard's basketball court. "So, think Killer Moth's contacted her yet?"

"Hard to say," she turned to look at Bard speculatively. "There is a way to find out, however."

"Uh, there is?" Bard asked, not entirely sure he liked her scrutinizing look or where she was going with this train of thought.

Raven continued sizing him up.

"You're attractive." She told him.

Bard sweat dropped.

"Didn't I say something about incest earlier?"

One of Raven's eye's twitched dangerously.

"I _meant_ Kitten might spill some information to you."

"...Oh."

"But first," she continued. "We'll need to get you a prisoner's uniform."

Raven's eyes narrowed in concentration and a dark hole appeared on the ground before. Out of that dark abyss came three or four gray uniforms from a laundry cart inside the prison. Bard quickly picked one out that fit and put it on over his clothes and then reached for his cowboy hat.

"You won't need that." Raven told him. "I don't think cowboy hats are part of the prison ensemble."

"Oh, all right." Bard said, his voice reluctant. "Just take care of it." He set his shoulders. "Guess it's time to turn on the charm."

Raven opened her mouth as if to give him a sarcastic comment, but the she shook her head. It was really just too easy. Instead, she simply made another teleporting hole. Bard gave her a thumbs up and jumped into it. He suddenly found himself in the exercise yard of the juvenile prison, and he took a moment to reorient himself. Then, he calmly walked over to where Kitten was, quite unsuccessfully, trying to throw the basketball into the hoop. Just as she was about to take another girlish shot, Bard walked up behind and took away the ball.

"Hey!" Kitten protested immediately. "That's my ball you stupid-" She stopped abruptly when she turned and laid eyes on him.

"Hey there, beautiful." Bard greeted her, his voice slick and cool. He shot the basketball in a high arc and smiled sexily when it swished through the net. "What's your name?"

"Kitten," the blonde girl said to him sweetly, suddenly so infatuated with him that her eyes seemed almost to be a pair of big pink hearts. "Who are you?"

"The name's Jonny." Bard said, kissing her hand in greeting as she giggled. "I just got in from knockin' off a bank. The Teen Titans finally did me in, but at least I whipped Robin before the others finally got me. He's really not as good as everyone says he is."

"Really?" Kitten asked, the adoration in him almost shining in her eyes.

It had worked! Though the inner workings of the female mind would never be entirely unraveled by men, Bard knew enough about women that he knew love could quickly turn into hate when they was shunned by the object of their affection.

"Yep!" 'Jonny' assured her. "Last time I saw the Boy Blunder he was half knocked out and bleeding from the lip!" He scratched his cheek thoughtfully. "If I could only get out of here, I could go and finish the job."

Kitten grinned slowly with a look on her face that Bard wasn't exactly sure he liked.

"Come with me." She ordered him, and Bard followed her to the corner of the yard. "I know a way for us to get out." She told him seductively. "And I'll let you in on it, _if_ you give me a kiss."

Bard looked down at her calmly, taking her in. She wasn't really bad looking, kind of cute actually, when she wasn't screaming her head off, at least. He mentally shrugged, leaned forward, and met her lips with his. He didn't have too much trouble containing his emotions, since he knew that this was simply something he had to do in order to fulfill the mission. After the kiss, Kitten had fallen over with excitement, and Bard thought for a moment that she had actually fainted until she quickly jumped back to her feet. He grinned to himself. He was more of a ladies' man then he had thought.

"So," 'Jonny' asked Kitten, winking slyly at her. "What's this great plan to get out of here?"

"My no-good daddy just broke out of the prison in the city." Kitten whispered to him conspiracy in her voice. "He's got those ugly moths of his somewhere in the woods. He going to sick them onto the prison tonight so I can escape."

"Where exactly are the moths?" Bard whispered back.

"Who cares?!" Kitten asked, discarding her whisper. "We're getting out of here."

"Sweet," 'Jonny' told her with an evil grin. "Let me get some things together, I'll be right back." He gave her a quick peck on the cheek, turned, and scurried to the other end of the exercise yard, where another black hole was waiting for him. He stepped through it, and he suddenly found himself back on the bluff with Raven. He quickly picked up his cowboy hat and placed it on his head.

"Much better," he approved.

"Not bad," Raven complimented him as he began to take off the uniform. "Not bad at all."

"Thank you," Bard said, then furrowed his brow at her. "How would you know?"

"I put a small teleporting hole in your uniform so I could listen in." Raven explained. "You sure are brave."

Bard blinked.

"Brave?"

"You kissed her."

"She's annoying, not ugly." Bard shrugged.

"Bard," Raven told him bluntly. "The last person I heard of her kissing was a mutated spider called Fang."

Bard's face blanched and turned an interesting color of green.

"You're just jealous of my rugged good looks and sexy ways." He told her weakly, his face still sick.

"You just sweet talked a girl who's got a few things missing upstairs...Woo hoo." Raven said indifferently. "By the way, is Jonny your real name?"

"Kinda, actually it's-" Bard stopped himself. "Robin said I wasn't supposed to tell."

"I think a sister has a right to know her brother's real name is." Raven told him primly.

Bard nodded.

"Sorry," he said. "It's Jonathon, but everyone back home calls me Jonny. What's _your_ real name?"

"Raven,"

"You're real name's Raven?" Bard asked, surprised.

Raven nodded.

"Well, that took all the fun out of it." Bard muttered.

"We need to be looking for Killer Moth's swarm." Raven said in a business-like fashion, picking up her cloak and reattaching it to her shoulders. "Let's fly up a mile or so over the ground. Maybe we can see something from that high up."

"Um, why don't you search from the air, and I search on the ground with my bike?" Bard asked. "I don't really like heights."

"No wonder you flew us so low over the water on the way here," She mused. "You're afraid of heights."

"No," Bard said firmly. "I'm not afraid of _heights_, I'm afraid of the falling and dying part. It's like being scared of the dark. No one's really afraid of the dark, they're afraid of what's was _hiding_ in it."

"Interesting perception," Raven said. "But we're still going up."

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen,"

"Ha!" Bard said triumphantly. "I'm eighteen! That means I'm your _older_ brother and I have the authority. So I'm going to search on the ground, whether you like or not!"

Raven glared at her 'older' brother with flashing eyes. No one could stand up to that glare long, and Bard soon caved.

"Uh, so, like I said, we're going to search from the sky." Bard said dejectedly in surrender, picking up his guitar and played the same notes he had played earlier inside the tower. That mysterious wind once again tugged at them, and then they were aloft.

At first, all Bard could think about was all that empty space below him and how it made his skin crawl, but slowly he was able to concentrate on looking for the swarm of moths. He became acutely aware of the sun in the three hours it took to find the giant, blue dome the killer insects were inside, perhaps six mile north of the juvenile prison. It was around four 'o' clock when they settled back down onto the bluff where Bard's motorcycle was standing. Bard lit up a cigarette and Raven opened up her communicator. Instead of Robin's familiar face, Beast Boy appeared on the screen.

"What's up, Raven?" He asked.

"Um, where's Robin?"

"Him and the others are downtown trashing Mumbo Jumbo." He said. "He told me to stick around here just in case you and 'Bardie' needed some help."

"We found out that Killer's Moth is going to try to break out Kitten tonight." Raven informed him. "He has a swarm of his moths about five miles from here."

"How in the world did you find that out?"

Raven smirked slightly.

"Bard kissed it out of Kitten." She told him, casting a sly glance Bard's way.

"Whoa!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "He actually kissed her? Wait a sec, you didn't care?"

"I don't think you have the right idea, Beast Boy-" Suddenly, some kind of interference began to scramble the picture and sound.

"Raven?--Help--there--I'll--hour." Beast Boy's message was scrambled before the screen went black.

"Why did you have to tell'em I kissed her?" Bard demanded, his voice pained as he exhaled smoke from his mouth.

"It bothered you? You seemed pretty proud of yourself at the time." Raven told him, then she looked down at her communicator. "I think the frequency Killer Moth is using to control his swarm is interfering with out communicators."

"You know, Raven." Bard said slowly, as if he were choosing his words carefully. "The rest of the Titans think we're, uh, involved. Don't you think we should just tell them the truth?"

"Do you really think that would be a good idea?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"We have a new procedure for adding members." Raven explained. "Everyone votes, and it has to be unanimous. We don't want them voting solely on the fact that we're related, do we?"

"We'll tell'em as soon as I'm a Titan then." Bard suggested, exhaling smoke.

Raven nodded.

"So," Bard said, taking once last drag from his cigarette before dropping it and rubbing it out with his cowboy boot. "What do we do now?"

"Beast Boy said he'll be here in an hour."

Suddenly, Bard's stomach rumbled.

"Uh, I'm kind of hungry." He admitted.

"Let me teach you how to meditate, then." Raven suggested. "That should get your mind off of it."

Fifteen minutes later, after Raven had explained extensively what meditation was, it's purpose and how to do it, the two of them were levitating cross-legged above the ground.

Bard suddenly found himself inside his head, and his surroundings looked exactly where he had been in his nightmares about his father. The sky was black, he was standing on a rocky walkway and there were four-eyed black animals sniffling around menacingly.

He heard someone coming towards him and he tried to stay as quiet as possible while he approached. The person walking towards him looked, well, almost exactly like looking in the mirror. Bard was one hundred percent sure, however that this Bard wasn't him, since the cowboy boots and hat the apparition wore were _pink_.

"Howdy!" The pink Bard yelled joyously when he saw him. "Come give me a giant hug!"

Bard's eyes bulged as the feminine-looking Pink Bard ran towards him with his arms outspread like a brainwashed Barney watcher and he suddenly escaped out of his mind, where he fell to the ground in a heap. Raven looked down at his sprawled form indifferently.

"Are you okay?"

Bard jumped to his feet quickly, his eyes wild.

"I'm gay!" He said in shock.

"..."

"No," Bard shook his head hysterically. "Not me, there-"

"Calm down," Raven said to him firmly, seeing that he was about to lose grip of his powers. "What happened?"

"I had a twin in there." Bard said, after taking several deep breaths. "He wore _pink_ and he tried to hug me!"

Raven rolled her eyes.

"That was one of your emotions, Bard." She explained. "They look just like us, except they wear different colors. The one you met was probably Affection."

Bard blinked several times.

"Oh, okay." He adjusted his glasses uncomfortably. "You keep meditating. I think I'll go try to find some berries or something. I'm _really_ hungry."

Raven nodded.

"Just don't wander off too far." She told him. "Beast Boy should be here soon."

"Yes, mother." Bard grinned sarcastically before disappearing into the underbrush.

Raven continued to float for a couple moments after he was gone, then she hesitantly let a slow smile creep over her face. Having a brother was interesting. If nothing else, he was cheap entertainment.


	4. Three Or Four?

_**"You need the liposuction!" - Starfire**_

_**CHAPTER FOUR**_

_**THREE, OR FOUR?**_

Beast Boy had transformed into a green peregrine falcon and was effortlessly swooping across the city towards the juvenile prison after he had finished talking to Raven via communicator. His mind began to wander as he flapped his wings mechanically. Raven was acting really, _really_ weird today. She had always been emotionless and aloof and stoic ever since he met her when she and Robin had first formed the Teen Titans, but now she had become incredibly close with this Bard guy in the space of a couple hours. Something was terribly wrong here.

Maybe Bard had some kind of mind control powers! Or maybe Raven was finally going insane, like Starfire had predicted when she was thrust into the future! Had he been in his elf form, he would have shuddered at the remembered thought of how Star had described his future self: Fat, timid, and, worst of all, bald. He had to try to think about something else.

It was strange, his teammates didn't really seem to be very concerned about the situation between Raven and Bard, which was surprising. Maybe they had all been taken over by aliens in a plot to drive him crazy and conquer the world in the process!? Beast Boy stopped himself, since this was around the time Cyborg would bop him on top of the head. He was never too good at unraveling mysteries, since he was always jumping to conclusions as soon as they popped into his over imaginative head that was fed by movies and video games. There _was_ a reason that Robin was the leader and he wasn't, after all.

Not long afterwards, Beast Boy found himself over the mountains and spotted Raven meditating near the juvenile prison with his sharp eyes. He quickly flared his wings, descended and transformed back into elf form.

"Where's Bard?" He asked Raven, looking around.

"He's-"

"You guys didn't have a fight, did ya? He asked impetuously.

"Beast Boy-"

"Did you guys break up or something?" Beast Boy went on. "Did Killer Moth hire him to help him get away with breaking out Kitten?"

"Beast boy-" Raven tried again, but Beast Boy was too occupied with his questions to hear.

"He didn't hurtcha, did he? I-"

"_Beast Boy!_" Raven's eyes glinted dangerously.

The little changeling gulped and shut up immediately.

"He simply went into the forest to search for berries." She told him.

"Oh," Beast Boy said, sounding a bit disappointed.

Just then, the object of their conversation came back, using his cowboy hat as a bucket to carry the blackberries he had obtained. He laid them down on the ground as if he had forgotten them and looked straight at Beast Boy.

"Stay here, Raven." He ordered, very much not like him. "Me and Beast Boy need to talk about something."

Raven raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Guy stuff," Bard explained. He grabbed Beast Boy by the wrist and practically dragged him further into the forest before Raven could ask anymore questions.

"Dude!" Beast Boy protested. "What's up, man? Lemme go!"

"What's bothering you?" Bard asked him bluntly, finally releasing him from his grip when he assumed they were out of Raven's earshot.

"What?" Beast boy asked, his face the mirror of innocence. "Nothing's bothering me."

"I was eavesdropping." Bard admitted calmly. "Now, what's bothering you?"

"Raven's not acting right." Beast Boy finally said, dropping the act. "She's never shown the least interest in _anybody_, then you show up and she's falling all over you!"

"Jealous?" Bard couldn't help asking.

Beast Boy shook his head seriously. "Nah, I know she's off limits." He said. "I'm just worried about her."

Bard blew the long, brown hair out of his face and rubbed his cheek absently as he thought, feeling slightly naked without his hat.

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Sure!" Beast Boy told him, a bit too quickly for Bard's taste.

"Even from Raven?"

Beast Boy nodded enthusiastically.

"Raven...she's my sister."

Beast Boys eyes widened in shock.

"_Raven's your-!"_

"Shhh," Bard hissed, quickly clamping his hand over Beast Boy's mouth and cutting his eyes towards to where Raven was waiting meaningfully.

"Does she know?" Beast Boy asked after Bard had removed his hand, slightly calmer this time.

Bard nodded.

"She's the one that told me." He took a deep breath. "Remember, you can't tell _anybody_."

"Ten-four," Beast Boy saluted.

"Now," Bard said. "Let's go back, eat some berries and kick some Killer Moth ass, okay?"

Beast Boy began to nod cheerfully, but then he stopped.

"You just cussed." He told Bard.

"So, what?" Bard shrugged. "It wasn't _that_ bad a word."

"Robin says we can't cuss."

"Why not?"

"Because we have to set a good example for the citizens of the city!" Beast Boy declared, doing his best impression of Robin's voice that, coincidently, was not very good.

Bard simply nodded absently. He had a lot to learn about this superhero thing. He had never thought himself a bad person, but when he sat back and looked at himself, he realized that he was a very bad role model.

When the two got back to where Raven was standing, Bard ate some berries and offered some to Beast Boy and Raven. Then he dumped the rest of them out and replaced the hat back on his head.

"Now," Bard said. "Let's go kick some Killer Moth...butt." He finished, casting a meaningful, sidelong glance at Beast Boy, who immediately grinned, gave them a thumbs up, turned into a hawk and flew away.

"What did you say to him?" Raven asked when he was gone.

"You don't tell Robin what you and Starfire talk about, do you?" Bard asked as a answer, a bit smugly.

"Well, no-" Raven began, but then she stopped. "How do you know Starfire and I talk to each other?"

"Women _always_ have to have other women to talk to." Bard said knowingly. "It's a fact."

"...Whatever, let's just go."

Raven levitated and began to float upwards, and Bard played his wind song.

Killer Moth was standing before the dome that housed his babies, holding the remote that controlled them in his left hand while the other stroked the glass of the dome lovingly. Soon now, he would unleash them to save his other, louder baby. Maybe she would actually be grateful enough to start to behave properly, Killer Moth thought, though he severely doubted it. Sometimes he didn't know what he was going to do with that blasted child...

He looked down and saw a large, green spider crawling across his metal boot. He had no idea what kind it was or even if it was poisonous or not. He really didn't care. He lifted his other boot to stomp on the creepy little arachnid...

Suddenly, the spider transformed into the green titan Killer Moth knew as Beast Boy. With a giant grin on his face, the changeling snatched the controller from the villain's hand.

"I'll take that!" Beast Boy declared as he placed it in his mouth, turned into a cheetah and loped away.

Killer Moth roared in rage and tried to follow, but he was met by a giant tree stump, courtesy of Raven's obsidian energy. He grunted and stumbled back, but he somehow kept his footing and charged Beast Boy, who had turned back into his normal form and was waving the remote over his head triumphantly.

"Look out!" Raven warned him, but Bard was already halfway through his song while strumming his guitar.

_I fell into a burning ring of fire, I went down, down, down, and the flames grew higher!_

On the last word a fireball the size of a man's head erupted from his guitar, similar to the one that he had conjured up on the roof of Titans Tower, and blasted Killer Moth full in the chest, putting him down hard. Beast Boy, not wasting anytime, ran over to the fallen villain and quickly turned into an elephant. He reached down with his long nose and held Killer Moth up over his head long enough for Raven to manipulate the bark of a nearby tree trunk with her dark energy to wrap up the would-be perpetrator.

"Nice teamwork," Bard complimented Raven and Beast Boy as he repositioned his guitar to his back.

"That's right, we're good!" Beast Boy said gleefully, pumping his fist into the air. He tossed the remote to Raven, who pocketed it in her cloak so she could put it in the evidence room when they got back to the tower.

"I see you've finally realized that sometimes something as small as a spider can be as useful as a five hundred pound gorilla." Raven droned to Beast Boy. "Now, go take Killer Moth to the authorities and let Commissioner Walker know about the moths here."

"Why do I have to do it?" Beast Boy whined.

"Because I did it last time." Raven told him flatly. "Now go!"

"All right, all right, I'm goin'!"

He turned into a pterodactyl, grabbed Killer Moth with his huge talons and flew away.

"Looks like I got through my first battle without a scratch." Bard commented adjusting his cowboy hat a bit cockily.

"Don't get used to it." Raven told him quickly, making sure to deflate his ego before it had a chance to grow. "We outnumbered him and had the element of surprise. Most battles won't be this easy."

With that, she took to the sky and headed towards where they had left the motorcycle. Bard shrugged, quickly played the wind song and followed her.

When Raven and Bard arrived back at the tower, they saw that Beast Boy had beat them home, seeing as how he had flown and they had traveled a bit more traditionally on Bard's motorcycle. Robin and the others had gotten back from stopping Mumbo Jumbo and Beast Boy was telling them the story of how he had 'single-handedly' captured Killer Moth.

"Since Raven and Bard did the reconnaissance," Beast Boy said deprecatingly, unaware that Raven and Bard had just walked in behind him. "It was up to me to bring in Killer Moth. Fair is fair after all."

"We found Killer Moth next to that big dome thingy that the moths were in and I changed into a spider to sneak up on him." He continued dramatically. "When I was close enough, I changed back and took the controller from him. Then, I smacked him right in the face! Pow! Just like that!"

Robin, Cyborg and Starfire were trying their very best not to laugh as they watched Bard's and Raven's reaction to Beast Boy's version of the story.

"He knew that I was too much for him." Beast Boy boasted, still oblivious that Bard and Raven were a part of his audience as he flexed what muscles he had in a 'killer' pose. "So he tried to escape. Bard tried to get in his way, but Killer Moth jumped kicked him. Boom! Right in the chest! Then he caught the tree stump Raven threw at him and tossed it right back at her. Ka-pow! She went flying through the air! Finally, I turned into a t-rex and smacked him with my tail and he went flying into a tree. Thwack! Crunch!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Beast Boy suddenly felt a prickling in the back of his neck and cold presence behind him.

"Uh," he sweat dropped, grinning nervously. He didn't dare turn around. "They're behind me...aren't they?"

The Titans finally burst out laughing as Beast Boy reluctantly turned to face his inevitable doom.

"You're not going to turn me inside out, are ya Raven?" He squeaked, cowering with his hands wrapped protectively around his head.

"It has to look better than the outside, at least." Raven commented dryly as she walked by him without a second glance. "Killer Moth had been detained, no matter the story." She said directly to Robin.

"How did friend Bard perform?" Starfire asked curiously.

Raven turned an eye to her secret brother.

"He was okay." She told the redhead.

"Only 'okay'?" Bard asked mildly. "As I recall, my fireball hit him pretty hard."

"It's pretty easy to hit a target that is not even aware of you presence."

"..."

"Did you take care of Mumbo Jumbo?" Raven asked, not noticing or simply ignoring Bard's dejected silence.

"Of course," Robin assured her, feeling a bit deflated that she would question him. "He made the usually bruises and bad puns, but we put him down."

Raven nodded.

"We put down three baddies in one day." Cyborg said. "Not bad at all!"

"Teen Titans: Three; Baddies: Zero!" Beast Boy cheered.

"We got Mumbo Jumbo, Cinderblock and Killer Moth." Robin declared. "Now all that's left is Control Freak."

"If you have any hunches on what he's planning, Robin." Bard said. "Maybe you should send me and Raven to investigate. It worked pretty well last time."

"Don't be overconfident." Raven told him.

"I'm just stating facts."

"Are you going to kiss Control Freak, too?" It was a petty thing to say, Raven knew, but she didn't like his tone.

"Hey!" Bard protested, wishing he could have a heart attack now and take the easy way out. "That was a low blow! At least I _have _been kissing _somebody_!"

"I don't know if Kitten falls into the category of 'somebody'."

"Guys, guys!" Robin said, stepping between them and holding up his hands like a referee. "Enough fighting!" He paused. "You kissed Kitten?"

"Yeah," Beast Boy was already joking slyly. "They're bickering like brothe-"

Bard stomped on the changeling's foot and Beast Boy yowled in pain. The cowboy forgot that he was wearing boots, so the attack probably hurt a lot more than he intended. That didn't stop him from glaring meaningful at the green elf, however.

"Cyborg and Beast Boy are right-" Starfire started.

"That's a first," Raven muttered under her breath from where she had turned away from Bard and folded her arms across her chest.

"We have vanquished three bad people today!" The perky alien continued joyfully. "I propose that we celebrate! If you wish, I can make the special Tammaran dish-"

"Pizza does sound good." Cyborg commented.

"Yup," Robin agreed, already walking towards the door.

"Meat lover's all the way, baby!"

"Dude, there is _no_ way I'm gonna eat meat!"

"Are you sure 'spearmint' is not a pizza topping, Robin?"

"Yes, Star. I'm sure."

"Could we _please_ just order something?"

"I already told you that pepperoni isn't meat!"

"Yes, it is!"

"Why is there a physician named 'Pepper' on the menu?"

"Well..."

"_Order. Something. Now._"

"Uh, how about just plain cheese?" Bard finally suggested hesitantly.

Everyone stopped to stare at Bard, while he adjusted his hat nervously. For a full heartbeat, you could hear a pin drop.

"Sounds good to me!"

"Yeah, no meat!"

"I suppose it is satisfactory, as long as I can sprinkle the delicious yellow substance you call 'mustard' on it!"

"It's okay with me."

Meanwhile, Raven was staring a hole in her brother.

"What?" Bard asked her self-consciously.

"I can't believe it." She droned. "You actually found a pizza topping _everyone_ can agree on."

"I told you I'm good."

"Don't push it," she muttered.

The heroic force known as the Teen Titans, along with their apprentice Bard, of course, was sitting on the roof of Mikey's Pizz-O-Rama, where they could avoid most of their more enthusiastic fans. Night had fallen, and despite the smog from the city, the view of the sky was terrific. Bard found himself looking up at it, absently picking out constellations he knew and making up those he didn't, as the rest of the Titans talked among themselves. The pizza arrived not long afterward and Bard almost lost a hand reaching for a piece at the same time as Cyborg and Beast Boy.

"I got a joke for ya!" Beast Boy announced. "Okay, an older woman fell into a coma and she got a chance to meet God, right? So she says, 'God, am I gonna die?' And God says, 'No child, you're going to live for another forty years.' So when the woman wakes up, she goes and gets a face lift and liposuction since she's going to live so much longer. She was crossing the street the next day when a truck hit her. Wham! Killed her dead! And up in heaven she says, 'God, you said I was going to live for another forty years!' And God said, 'Sorry, I didn't recognize you!'"

"..."

"..."

"What is liposuction?"

"Well, Star." Robin started to explain haltingly. "When people who are, uh, obese..."

"That was lame, BB." Cyborg told his green friend, drowning out Robin's explanation.

"You know you liked it!" Beast Boy shot back. "You're just jealous 'cause it's better than any joke you've ever _heard_!"

Bard was leaning back, looking up at the stars as he meditatively munched on his slice of cheese pizza when he first noticed it. Everything was...really quiet. No car engines or honking horns. No children laughing or teenagers goofing off or sneaking off to explore the differences between boys and girls in dark places. No buzz of life anywhere, except for at the Titan's table.

"Do you guys hear that?" Robin suddenly asked intently, obviously noticing as well.

Starfire cocked her head to the side.

"But I do not hear anything, Robin." She protested.

"Yeah, me neither." Beast Boy piped in.

"Exactly," Robin said grimly, searching the surrounding area with his eyes. He looked up and the white eyes of his mask widened. "Titans, scatter!"

There was a crash as a dark red light saber smashed through the table they had all been sitting at a moment before and the sounds of the city abruptly came back as people screamed and began fleeing.

"Welcome to the sequel, Titans!" Control Freak yelled at them over his substantial paunch. "For once, the bad guy wins!"

"Don't count on it, Control Freak." Robin yelled, brandishing his metal bo staff and spinning it above his head. "I think it's time for a director's cut!"

"Yeah!" Cyborg backed him up, raising his right arm as it transformed into a supersonic cannon. "It was my turn to pay for that perfectly good pizza you just ruined, and I'm gonna take it outta your behind!"

'Behind?' Bard mouthed, his eyes amused.

"I see you have a new Titan." Control Freak noticed, swooshing the light saber around to point at Bard. "What's your name, cowboy?"

"Bard," he answered. "And we're thinking about changing our name from the 'Teen Titans' to the "Dirty Half Dozen". Whatcha think?"

"Ah, the Dirty Dozen!" Control Freak mused magnanimously, his tone was as if he were talking to an old friend instead of a member of his hated enemies. "Came out in 1967. Directed by Robert Aldrich. Starring Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson. One of the greatest movies of all time!"

"That is _so_ not cool." Bard muttered, taking a page from Beast Boy's phrase book.

"I know," Beast Boy said. "I don't know where he comes up with all that useless information."

Bard shook his head.

"That not what I meant," he shuddered. "I actually agree with him."

"You have something in common." Raven deadpanned. "Are you going to kiss him now?"

"Titans, go!" Robin shouted, running forward.

Control Freak grinned viciously as he readied his glowing red light saber for their attack. Robin went in first, leaping high into the air to strike down with his staff. Control Freak saw him coming, though, and whipped out a remote control from his pocket. He zapped Robin's cape, which suddenly came alive, complete with eyes and large, sharp teeth. The Boy Wonder flung the black and yellow monster from his shoulders to face off against it.

"Do all the bad guys have remote controls?" Bard demanded, even as Starfire let out a war cry and began slinging fiery green starbolts at the obese villain.

"You need the liposuction!" She cried as she continued to fire her starbolts.

Control Freak twirled his light saber in front of him with surprising dexterity, deflecting the starbolts. The ricochets went everywhere: Through buildings, windows and three of them collided dead on with Starfire, Beast Boy and Cyborg, who were flung back off the roof and onto the street.

Raven lifted up a nearby metal mailbox and flung it at Control Freak, but he leaped forward and sliced it in half in the same motion as he charged at the half-demon girl.

"Raven!" Bard yelled urgently. At the last second, he was able to jump in front of his sister and deflect Control Freak's light saber with his guitar, which was torn in half by the impact. **TWANG! **It seemed as if everything had gone into slow motion as he watched his precious guitar plummeting in fragments to the ground. He had never been angrier in his life. Bard's eyes widened dangerously he stared at the ruined instrument before him.

The cowboy roared in rage, and Control Freak actually looked a bit afraid. Then, Bard's eyes turned blood red and his body began to glow with a hellish, white light.


	5. Light And Dark

_**"That would mean that Raven and I are virgins as well, correct?" - Starfire**_

_**CHAPTER FIVE**_

_**LIGHT AND DARK**_

"No, Bard!" Raven yelled at her brother. "Stop!"

But as far as she could tell, Bard couldn't hear her. That eerie white light still surrounded him, red fire spurted out of the corners of his eyes and he began to expand, slowly growing larger and larger.

"Bard!" Raven tried again. "Don't free him! Listen to me!"

Still, there was no response.

"_Control yourself, Bard!_" Raven yelled at him again, more desperate this time. "_You're not evil! Jonny!"_

That last word, his real name, seemed to get through to him. There was a blinding flash, and he was back to normal, standing in front of a terrified Control Freak. Bard was still incredibly angry, however, and decided to take it out on the nerd genius. He drew back his fist as far as he could for a thundering punch...and then kicked his foe solidly between the legs with his cowboy boot.

Control Freak hit the ground with a painful, groaning wail, his feet and legs curled up in the fetal position and his hands cupping himself. Raven plucked the remote control from the ground where he had dropped it and zapped Robin's cape just as it lunged at it's master, returning it to normal. Bard, meanwhile had dropped to his knees in front of the remnants of his guitar, his eyes wet with unshed tears.

"My grandfather gave me this." He whispered, his voice barely audible. "It was all I had left..."

"It was only an instrument of wood and metal. You're grandfather is gone, whether or not this guitar is in one piece or not. It is pointless to grieve for it." Raven said emotionlessly, as the others gathered around. Robin walked over as well after replacing his cape and handcuffing Control Freak.

"Pointless?!" Bard immediately flared, rising to his feet to confront his sister. "_Pointless!?_ This is the only possession I ever owned that meant something! We both know I'm free to feel more emotion than you, and I think you're just jealous!"

Raven took a step back as if he had struck her, but then she drew herself up.

"_You stupid boy,_" She said, her voice all the more dreadful because it was so quiet. _"You don't understand, do you? I'd endure the flames of Hell ten times over to keep you from ever meeting __him__. To keep __him__ from tempting you every single time you close your eyes. This world could die because of your emotions. You cherish them so much, but they are an enemy that must be banished. Which do you think is more important? You're petty emotions or humanity?"_

Bard looked shocked, but then his expression softened into shame as the tears finally escaped down his face. "I'm sorry," He muttered as he stepped forward and wrapped his sister into a hug. Black energy suddenly smashed through a street light.

"Sorry!" Bard said again, jumping away from Raven quickly. He coughed manfully, cleared his throat and wiped away his tears with a swipe from his forearm. He and his sister turned to face the rest of the group, who were all staring at them as if they had both grown a second head.

"I think you have some explaining to do." Robin told them firmly, his hands on his hips.

Bard and Raven sat beside each other on the futon couch while the other Titans gathered around them, waiting for an explanation. Bard looked nervously over at his sister, but she was silent and unperturbed, seemingly indifferent.

"Now, what's going on?" Robin asked them.

Bard glanced over at Raven once again, but she said nothing and seemed quite content to let him give their teammates an explanation.

"Well..." Bard started slowly, half because he wasn't sure where to begin and half because he wanted to give Raven ample time to stop him from saying something she didn't want as general knowledge. "Maybe you ought to look at the Initiation Contract."

Curiously, Robin walked over to the computer desk and picked up the document.

"Name: Bard, Age: Eighteen, Hobbies: Guitar, reading, basketball." He muttered aloud as he scanned the parchment before he looked up. "This seems routine to me."

"You play b-ball?" Cyborg asked Bard. "You any good?"

"I like to think I'm better than your average joe." Bard replied modestly, happy to be talking about something besides his and Raven's secret.

"We'll have to play sometime."

"I look forward to it."

"Family," Robin continued to read. "Mother: Deceased, Father: Unknown, Sister:" He paused and, for the second time that evening, the eyes of his eye mask widened in shock. "No way!"

"Who is it, Robin?" Starfire asked.

But he didn't say. He was simply looking in shock at Raven. Cyborg followed his line of sight.

"No way!" He exclaimed in surprise, unconsciously mimicking Robin.

"This explains much, I think." Starfire said.

"No kidding," Robin said sarcastically. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"It was Raven's idea." Bard told him a little defensively. "She reasoned that if you knew we were related, it might influence your votes when I try to become a Titan. We agreed we would tell you after the vote."

"It might not have been a bad idea in the long run." Robin admitted. "But I don't like people keeping secrets from me."

"Sorry," Bard said quickly. He definitely didn't want to get on the Boy Wonder's bad side, especially not this early on in the game.

"It's okay," Robin assured him. "The kick you used on Control Freak, though, wasn't exactly Titan procedure."

"I don't know kung-fu like you do." Bard shrugged slightly. "And I don't have superhuman strength, so I just resorted to street fighting."

"Where did you learn to street fight?" Cyborg asked him.

"I _did_ go to public school." Bard replied with a small chuckle.

"Well," Robin said. "We can't exactly have you using those tactics unless it's an emergency. If you want, I could teach you how to fight..."

"Really?" Bard burst out, his eyes excited. "Cool! I'm going to kick so much-"

This time it was Beast Boy's turn to stomp on Bard's foot, and he threw all of his weight into it. Payback is sweet, after all.

"All right," Robin said, looking at the two a bit strangely. "We'll start tomorrow morning."

'Uh, tomorrow morning's not good for me."

"What is it?" Beast Boy quipped. "Got a date or somethin'?"

"Tomorrow's Sunday." Bard said, as if that fact alone explained.

"What's so special about Sunday?" Robin asked.

"Church, of course."

"Oh,"

"No wonder _he_ doesn't think he can take you." "Raven muttered under breath.

"Excuse me, friend Bard." Starfire asked him politely. "But what is this thing you call 'church'?"

Bard blinked, but then reminded himself that Starfire _was_ from another planet.

"Church is a place where you go to worship and learn about God and his son Jesus."

"Jesus?"

Bard was surprised. He knew she was an alien, but _everyone_ knew who Jesus was, or so he had thought.

"Would you like to hear about him?"

"Yes!" Starfire almost bubbled with excitement as she pulled up a chair. "That would be most appreciated!"

Bard grinned despite himself. Starfire's innocence and enthusiasm was contagious. Now he knew what Robin saw in her.

"Thousands of years ago, the world was corrupt with evil men." Bard began, warming up to his subject. With a name like Bard, you had better be pretty good storyteller, after all. "Men killed each other in the streets, women were considered little more than property and slavery and thievery were commonplace. In the kingdom of Heaven, God looked down and saw man's wickedness, so he sent down his son to teach them and pay the price for their sins; their wrongdoings. He sent him down to earth in the form of a human, and his mother was the Virgin Mary."

"Excuse me, Bard." Starfire said, sounding reluctant to interrupt the story. "But what is a 'virgin'?"

Bard's face suddenly became beet red and he looked to Robin for help, but the former sidekick to Batman was, for some odd reason, intently examining his boots. He looked to Raven for support, but she just stared back him over her book, her eyes amused. Cyborg and Beast Boy were playing their video games. It was obvious he was on his own.

"Well, Star." Bard said slowly as he fiddled nervously with his glasses, not sure how he wanted to explain this. "A virgin is someone who...has never had children." It wasn't _exactly_ true, but it was close enough.

Bard glanced over at his sister and saw that she looked disappointed. She had _really_ looked forward to him embarrassing himself. Man, she was cold...

"Ah," Starfire said in understanding. "That would mean that Raven and I are virgins as well, correct?"

Bard almost face vaulted.

"Er, uh, I guess you could say that, Star." He floundered. He glanced over at Raven and saw that she had a light blush on her face. Served her right...

Bard spent the next hour and a half telling Starfire of Jesus' birth, life, death, and ultimate resurrection. Surprisingly, despite the story's length, Starfire did not once appear bored or tired. Quite the opposite, she seemed enthralled and completely engrossed into the story.

"Jesus was very heroic, wasn't he?" Starfire asked after the story was finished.

Bard nodded, feeling warm inside that Starfire had been attentive during the story and that she had enjoyed it so much.

"He paid the ultimate price so that mankind could have a chance to live on and go to Heaven."

"What exactly is this 'Heaven'?"

"It's the place where people's spirits who believe in Jesus and accept him into their hearts go when their bodies die." Bard explained. "It's place with streets of gold and where everyone is eternally happy."

"That sounds delightful!" Starfire almost gushed. "I would very much like to go there when my spirit departs."

"I'm sure you will, Star." Bard told her sincerely. "I'm sure God has a special place for people like you."

"That was a very sweet and considerate thing for you to say." Starfire told him, sounding slightly shy. "Thank you. Perhaps-"

"I think it's time for bed!" Robin announced quickly, interrupting the conversation.

Bard looked up at his soon-to-be leader in confusion, but then he realized that he might be getting just a little jealous. Smiling knowingly at Robin, Bard stood up and stretched theatrically.

"I think you're right, Robin." He said, stifling a yawn. "It's been a long day."

"I'll take you to your room." Raven offered, closing the book she had been leafing through while Bard had been talking to Starfire.

"Thank you for the story, Bard." Starfire called after them as they left.

"No problem!" Bard threw over his shoulder. "Night, Star. Night, all!"

As he and Raven walked down the hallway, Bard noticed that the tower was surprisingly dark. He didn't mind much, however, and he knew for sure that Raven didn't. The room she brought him to was quite large, but the only furniture in the room was a bedside table and large bed. The walls, however, were painted to show the sun setting behind tall, mountainous peaks with browns, yellows, and purples.

"Wow," Bard commented. "I sure do like the walls. Who designed it?"

"Beast Boy," Raven told him.

"Why isn't this his room, then?"

"He made it for a friend." Raven answered, but her tone was one that certainly didn't welcome any further questions. Oh well, he was tired anyway.

"Good night, Raven."

"Good night, Bard."

"Call me Jonny when we're in the tower, okay Raven?"

"Fine," Raven said. "Good night...Jonny."

"Much better," Bard approved as his sister turned and left.

Bard had a new family and a new home now. He smiled to himself after looking around the room one last time, and then he began to pull off his boots.

Bard was dressed slightly different the next morning when he entered the main room. He still wore his boots, but now he wore black jeans and a white dress shirt complete with a cowboy tie. His hat was gone, and instead he had his hair slicked back into a ponytail.

"Mornin' ya'll." He greeted Cyborg and Beast Boy as he walked into the kitchen and helped himself to some of the bacon and sausages Cyborg had fried up that morning. It seemed as if everyone else hadn't arrived as of yet.

"Dude," Beast Boy said to him, looking at the grease covered meat disgustedly. "You know that stuff will kill ya, dontcha?"

"I think it's one of God's obscure jokes." Bard shrugged. "The stuff that tastes good is bad for you, and the stuff that's good for you tastes bad."

"Tofu doesn't taste bad!" Beast Boy protested, and both Bard and Cyborg tried their best not to laugh.

"Whateva' you say, BB." Cyborg chuckled.

A few minutes later, Starfire entered the room.

"Happy morning, friends!" She said in the joyous voice that made one wonder if she could _ever_ be in a bad mood. This was the first time Bard had seen her without Robin.

"Mornin', Star." Bard replied. Beast Boy waved and Cyborg acknowledged her with a nod of his head. "Sleep well?" Bard added.

"Yes, my sleep was most restful." She pursed her lips together. "Are you going to your church today?"

"Yep." Bard answered, taking out a pocket watch and glancing at it. "As a matter of fact, I'll have to leave pretty soon if I don't want to be late."

"I was wondering if I could accompany you." Starfire said to him hopefully.

Bard looked at her purple top, matching miniskirt and high boots speculatively. While he had no problem with it himself, that attire probably wouldn't be entirely appropriate for church.

"You're not really dressed for church." He said. "And I have to go right now."

"Oh," Her tone was extremely disappointed.

"I'll tell you what." Bard offered. "We'll go to the mall tomorrow and get you a nice dress to wear to church, and you can come with me next Sunday. Deal?"

"That would be wonderful!"

Bard nodded.

"I guess it's time for me to roll." He said to his friends. "I'll be back in a couple of hours."

He put an affectionate hand on Starfire's shoulder as he walked past her and entered the elevator. He felt kind of bad about leaving her behind. A minute or so later, they faintly heard the roar of his Harley starting up. Starfire watched him ride out across the waves to the mainland from the window, and then she turned back towards the kitchen and made herself a plate of Cyborg's cooking.

"Do we have any mustard left?" She asked.

Bard and Robin were standing on a large blue mat in the training room a few hours later. Bard had changed back into his customary jeans and sleeveless shirt, but he had left his hat off. The rest of the Titans were there as well, standing off to the side to watch.

"Are ya'll sure ya'll want to watch?" Bard asked for what seemed like the millionth time. "I don't really need a crowd to be watchin' when Robin turns me upside down and mops the mat with my ponytail."

"But we are here for encouragement and support, Bard!" Starfire protested, even as Cyborg and Beast Boy snickered. Again, Raven was watching him with amusement in her eyes. She was actually going to _enjoy_ this!

"_You_ might be, Star." He muttered under his breath, then he turned back to Robin. "So, how are we going to do this?"

"We'll just have a friendly spar." Robin said, his tone assuring. "The best way to learn is through doing."

Bard nodded and watched as Robin fell back into a kung-fu stance. Bard's fighting stance was fairly simple: He held up his fists and turned his body to the side so no one could kick him like he had kicked Control Freak last night. That was always a good thing.

Bard was extremely cautious and refused to make the first move. Robin took the initiative and tried to sweep his legs out from under him, but Bard saw it coming and leaped as high as he could into the air over the attack...Only to be caught in midair right in the chest with the other foot.

**WHAM!**

Bard hit the mat hard and the air was forced out of his lungs.

"Ow," He muttered after he had regained his breath and Robin had helped him to his feet.

"That was a most courageous try, friend Bard!" Star told him encouragingly.

"Thanks," He replied as he touched his chest gingerly, but his heart wasn't really in it.

"Well," Robin said. "You're athletic and you have good reflexes. We'll have something to build on, at least."

"What did I do wrong?"

"You jumped too high." Robin explained. "When you're up in the air you're wide open to attack."

Bard nodded. "All right, let's try again."

Robin opened up with the attack first once again, opening up the spar with his trademark jumping side kick. Bard's eyes widened in shock that Robin would use his finishing attack on a teammate, but he managed to roll under the kick and turned to face off with the Boy Wonder again.

But Robin was gone. Bard looked around the mat quickly, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Hhyaa!"

Bard looked up just in time to see Robin's elbow plummeting down at him. He narrowly jumped out of the way. Starfire clapped and Robin actually looked a bit impressed as they squared off once again.

"Not bad," he said. "But you still have _a lot_ to learn."

With that, Robin threw a side kick at Bard's ribs, but Bard caught the leg in the crook of his arm. Quickly seeing that Robin was vulnerable hopping on one leg, he reached out with his free hand as fast as he could and grasped the front of Robin's cape. Then he set his legs and turned to throw him down on the mat. But somehow, Robin was able to change positions in midair and used his own momentum to send Bard careening bodily into the wall.

"Oof!" Once again, the air was forced from Bard's lungs and little birdies flew around his head.

"I think I've had enough." He admitted.

"Do not sling out the towel, Bard!" Starfire said. "You can do it!"

"I-" Bard started to say, but he stopped when he saw the almost child-like faith in her green eyes. Maybe he could go _one_ more round. He made it to his feet and analyzed his opponent. Robin knew kung-fu, was trained by one of the greatest superheroes ever and was probably one of the best fighters in the world. He was smart and knew tactics. Where was the weakness?

"One more time?" Robin asked.

Bard merely nodded, his mind still trying to find a way to put down the Boy Wonder at least once. Then Robin's weakness came to him. He was fighting against a comrade in a friendly competition. He wasn't trying his hardest, surely, and he wouldn't be expecting him to...

Robin threw out a roundhouse kick at his head and Bard just ducked out of the way. Grinning to himself, Bard snatched his yellow utility belt from his opponent's waist.

"What are you-?" Robin started, but it was too late. Bard had already thrown an exploding birdarang at his leader's feet. He didn't _really_ want to hurt him, after all. The concussion of the blast knocked the Boy Wonder from his feet and on his back. For the span of five heartbeats, there was nothing but shocked silence. Finally:

"You have triumphed, friend!"

"Whoa, cool!"

"Boo-ya!"

"...Luck."

Meanwhile, Robin's competitive juices had started flowing.

"You cheated!' He accused Bard as he got back to his feet and took back his utility belt.

Bard was grinning from ear to ear.

"I know." He said with a smile. "Like I always say: Cheat to win!"

Robin looked at if he were about to yell some more, but then he took several deep breaths.

"You were outmatched, so you used your brains." He finally complimented him after he had calmed himself. "Very good."

Bard let out a sigh of relief. He had been afraid that Robin wasn't going to take the tactic very well.

Robin brought out one of his retractable metal bo staff from his cape.

"This is for you." He told Bard as he handed the extra weapon to him. "Maybe now you'll have something to block with instead of ruining your guitar."

Bard raised an eyebrow.

"But I don't have a guit-" He stopped as Raven, who he had never noticed leaving the room, walked back in with a beautiful, red oak acoustic guitar. She wordlessly handed him the instrument.

"How did you get this?" Bard asked, intently examining the fine-crafted guitar.

"Dude, we _do_ get paid, ya know." Beast Boy told him.

Bard blinked.

"We get paid?"

"Not enough to get excited about." Raven droned.

Bard put his new staff into his belt and placed his new guitar on his back as he looked around at his friends; his family. He finally felt that they had accepted him into their tightly-knit group.

"Thanks," he said. "Just...thanks."


	6. A Trip To The Mall

_"Don't talk to me about hair." - Robin_

_**CHAPTER SIX**_

_**A TRIP TO THE MALL**_

Bard tentatively ran his fingers over the strings of his new guitar, amazed by the quality of sound that poured out.

"Sure does sound good." He commented, realizing they most have went out and bought the guitar while he was a church.

"Of course it does!" Beast Boy told him. "_I_ picked it out, after all."

Bard looked at him curiously.

"You know about guitars?"

"Sure do," Beast Boy nodded. "I've got an electric one back in my room."

"Know how to play it?"

"Sure I-"

"Nope," Cyborg answered for his friend bluntly. "He can't play a lick."

"That's all right." Bard smiled, forgetting about his scrapes and bruises now that he was talking about music. "I could teach you to play, if you want."

"Really? That would be sweet!"

"Oh, no." Raven groaned, putting a hand to her forehead.

"He can always turn the volume down, Raven." Bard assured her.

"He can, but he won't."

"Turn him inside out, then." Bard shrugged.

"You have _no_ idea how many times I've considered that."

"Hey!"

"Would you play us a song?" Starfire asked.

Bard looked a little doubtful.

"I don't think ya'll would like my kind of music, Star."

"What kind of music do you play?"

"Country," Bard answered.

"I have not heard that kind of music yet." Starfire said. "I have heard the hop hip and the rock punk, however. Is this country anything like those styles?"

Bard chuckled.

"Uh, no, I don't think so, Star."

"C'mon, man!" Cyborg pressed. "We got you a new guitar, the least you can do is treat us to a song!"

Bard looked around at the group and saw that they were all looking at him expectantly. Oh, well, he could at least play _one_ song for them. He started out with a fast-paced riff, and then jumped directly into the song.

_People say I'm no good and crazy as a loon_

_Cause I get stoned in the morning, I get drunk in the afternoon_

_I'm kinda like my ole blue tick hound I like to lay around in the shade_

_I ain't got no money but I __**dang**__ sure got it made..._

Bard caught himself just in time to keep from swearing. Maybe this wasn't the best song to sing, he thought, but he had already started, so it was a little too late to turn back now. So much for the role model stuff...

_And I ain't askin' nobody for nothin'_

_If I can't get it on my own_

_If you don't like the way I'm livin'_

_You just leave this long-haired country boy alone..._

Bard played the riff again. He had picked this song because it had a catchy, fast, and relaxed beat, and he saw that it had been a good choice as he looked around at his friends, who seemed to be enjoying themselves. Starfire's look was not showing mere enjoyment, however. Her face almost looked mesmerized. He had to remind himself that she had never heard anything like this before. He knew he wasn't _that_ good.

_Preacher man talkin' on TV, putin' down the rock and roll_

_He wants me to send a donation, 'cause he's worried about my soul_

_Now Jesus walked on the water and I know that is true_

_But sometimes I think that preacher man ought to do a little walkin', too..._

Bard's voice was not mind-numbingly amazing by any means, but his smooth southern voice was easy to listen to.

_And I ain't askin' nobody for nothin'_

_If I can't get it on my own_

_If you don't like the way I'm livin'_

_You just leave this long-haired country boy alone..._

He played the riff one last time and ended the song with one last strum of the strings.

"Most wonderful!" Starfire approved, clapping her hand.

"Pretty cool,"

"Yeah, that rocked...er, country-ed?"

"...Not bad."

Robin was looking at him, his face slightly stern.

"Interesting lyrics," He told him.

"Oh, sorry!" Bard apologized quickly.

"I enjoyed your performance very much, Bard." Starfire told him sincerely. "It is the first music I have heard on this planet that did not give me a ache-splitting head."

Bard laughed quietly at that.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"It was," Starfire nodded at him. "It was much...smoother than the other musical styles I have heard."

"I can agree with that." Bard grinned.

"Why don't you play somethin' else?" Beast Boy suggested. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

Bard's grin grew even larger.

"Sure!"

"I can almost _see_ his head growing." Raven muttered.

That song turned into another song. Then another. And another. It was quite late before they all retired to their rooms later that night and went to bed. Bard's grin was still on his face as he laid himself down to go to sleep. He had a family that had accepted him with open arms, and to top that off, they liked his music! It couldn't get much better than this...

Since he had gone to bed late the night before, Bard decided to sleep late. That plan quickly fell apart, however, when there was a knock at the door. He groggily sat up and, resisting the urge to light up a cigarette, looked around with sleep filled eyes for his shirt. He shrugged to himself when he couldn't find it. He was pretty sure everyone in the tower had seen a shirtless man before.

"Come in," he called.

It was Starfire. Her eyes seemed a little sad as she looked around the room, but they lit back up almost immediately.

"Happy morning, Bard."

"Good mornin'," Bard replied, smiling to himself at the way Starfire said that particular phrase. With her perpetually cheerful voice, it was almost like everyday was a holiday. He imagined that she would say 'Merry Christmas' in the exact same way.

"I was wondering if you still wanted to go to the mall today." Starfire said, bringing Bard back from his thoughts.

"What? Oh, of course I do!" Bard told her. "Just let me take a quick shower and get dressed. While I'm doing that, why don't you go ask if anyone else wants to go?"

"A wonderful idea!" Starfire beamed. She smiled at him one last time before leaving.

Bard's thoughts lingered on Starfire as he gathered up his clothes, hat, and boots and trudged slowly to the bathroom; Why there was only one in the whole tower was beyond him. She wasn't the greatest fighter on the team, nor was she the smartest. Bard would bet his bottom dollar, however, that she was the most valuable. With her almost inhuman cheerfulness and kindness, she would keep the spirits of her teammates up when the chips were down.

After he had showered, brushed his teeth and dressed, he found Starfire in the living room. Strangely, no one else was present.

"Any luck?" He asked her as he entered.

"Raven is reading and Cyborg and Beast Boy are already at the mall participating in some kind of video game competition." Starfire informed him. "Robin will go with us, though. He said he needed to pick up some things."

"A couple of tubes of hair gel?" Bard joked.

Starfire giggled louder than he expected at that, and he soon found out why.

"I heard that!"

Bard whirled around and saw that Robin had been in the kitchen. Why hadn't he noticed him?

"Just kiddin'!" Bard held up his hands in his customary gesture of 'no harm, no foul'.

"Don't talk to me about hair." Robin shot back, looking pointedly at Bard's long, dark brown locks.

"You're just jealous of my rugged good looks and sexy ways." Bard grinned.

"That _must_ be it." Robin said sarcastically.

"Are we ready to go?" Starfire asked.

Both Robin and Bard nodded and the three friends took the elevator down to the garage where the R-Cycle and Bard's Harley was standing.

"Would you like a ride, Star?"

"Need a ride, Star?"

Bard and Robin said this at almost the exact same time. Both boys blinked at each other.

"You'd probably be more comfortable on Robin's bike." Bard told the Tammaran. He only considered Starfire a close friend at the moment, and he certainly didn't want to become between her and the Boy Wonder.

Starfire's brow furrowed.

"But your vehicle is larger than friend Robin's." She protested.

"Yeah, well..." Bard searched desperately for an excuse. "You could get there faster with Robin."

Though she still looked confused, maybe even a bit injured, she nodded.

"Very well." She agreed and slid behind Robin on the R-Cycle. "We shall meet you there!"

Bard gave them a thumb's up and then watched as the two sped away. A sudden thought popped into his brain. Exactly _how_ did they drive to the mainland when they were on an island? He'd have to ask someone that when he had the chance. He lit up a cigarette and waited for a while before he mounted his own bike and he dropped the cancer stick as the Harley started up. He didn't know what route Starfire and Robin would use to get to the mall, and he certainly didn't want to beat the pair to the mall after what he had told Starfire. He could simply fly over the water, and he didn't know how much faster that would make his trip.

He took his time driving through the streets of the city and arrived perhaps thirty minutes later at the mall. He saw Robin's R-Cycle near the front of the complex and parked his Harley beside it. Bard wasn't exactly prepared when he first walked into the mall. He had had a mall back in his small hometown, but it was _nothing_ compared to this monster! In his mall, you had a few clothing stores, a few shoe stores and a few music stores. Here, you had a store for _everything_! A store that only sold cologne; A store that just sold hats. If it was something somebody somewhere wanted, there was a store for it.

Bard looked up at a flashing sign: _**House 'O' Mouse Traps**_. Okay...that was just ridiculous.

"Friend Bard!"

Bard turned and saw that Starfire and Robin had been waiting for him.

"What took you so long?" Robin asked Bard as he walked over.

"I had a little trouble with my bike." Bard lied calmly.

"Is it all right now?"

Bard nodded and then looked around again.

"This place sure is big, isn't it?"

Robin laughed.

"You're lucky we didn't go to Livingtree Mall. That place is about three times bigger than this one."

Bard shook his head incredulously.

"I don't know what you could put in there to fill it up." Bard shrugged. "So, what did you need to get, Robin?"

"Besides hair gel?" Robin asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, besides hair gel."

"Nothing, really. I need to pick up some computer disks, but they're more of an excuse to get out of the tower for a few hours. What about you?"

"I told Starfire that I'd help her pick out a dress so she could come with me to church next Sunday."

"We'll start with that, then." Robin decided.

"Lead the way," Bard said. "I have _no_ idea where _anything_ is in this place."

Five minutes later, the three Titans, well, the two Titans and one apprentice, found themselves in the store _**Impressive Dresses**_. Bard was amazed at how big the store was, not to mention how large the _prices_ were, as Starfire hopped around looking at dresses, ooh-ing and ah-ing. He glanced idly at the price tag of a dress near him. Three hundred bucks! Maybe he should have thought it through a bit more when he told Starfire he would get her a dress...

On his trip cross country on his bike, he had stopped whenever he had run out of cash in one town or another and perform a couple of odd jobs to make ends meet. At the moment, he had two hundred and some odd dollars to his name, and he _certainly_ didn't want to spend it all on a _dress_!

All right, Bard said to himself, this can work out okay. This is your mission if you choose to accept it (And Lord knows he would): Find the cheapest dress in the whole place, convince Starfire that it's absolutely adorable and buy it before she changes her mind. This message will self-destruct in...whatever. He knew what he had to do.

At first, he would glance at the dress in question before looking at the price tag, but soon enough he ignored the dresses altogether and simply look at the price. Three hundred...two hundred fifty...one hundred sixty...three hundred ninety nine. This was ridiculous! Wasn't there a Wal-Mart in this city?

"How about this one?" Starfire asked him and Robin, holding up a dress she had found.

It was a pretty dress to be sure. It was a simple, knee-length dress with a flower design. Bard actually thought it would look great on her, but he didn't want to say so until he saw the price.

"Let me see," he said to Starfire, taking the dress from her and looking it over. He discreetly ran his eyes over the price: Seventy three dollars. Still way to much for a dress like this, but it was likely the best price he was going to get. "It would look great on you!" He said truthfully, deciding the price was satisfactory.

"Really?"

"Sure it would, Star." Robin reinforced.

"Then I'll take it!"

Bard smiled and took the dress from her. They walked up to the sales counter and Bard pulled out his wallet. Robin's eyes widened when he looked down at it.

"You have an ID?" He hissed at Bard.

Bard raised an eyebrow.

"Doesn't everybody?"

"Yes, but you need an ID that doesn't have your _real_ name!" Robin pointed out. "Destroy it the first chance you get, I'll make you a new one."

"Oh, thanks." This superhero stuff kept getting more and more complicated. Cyborg was right: Robin was paranoid, but Bard trusted his judgment. He _was_ the leader, after all.

"I'm going to go get those computer disks." Robin told them after they had purchased the dress and walked out of the store. "Do you guys want to come?"

"Uh..." Bard desperately searched for a polite way to turn down the invitation.

"I thought that Bard and I could go check in on Beast Boy's and Cyborg's progress in their competition." Starfire said.

"All right," Robin conceded. "I'll see you guys there, then."

Bard let out a silent sigh of relief. Computer stores weren't the most exciting places on earth. After Robin had walked away, he turned to Starfire.

"Do you know where they're having the contest?"

"I do not know." Starfire said, shaking her head. "I suppose we could always ask someone."

Bard nodded and looked around. His eyes were caught by a pretty brunette. Hey, he had to ask _somebody_, might as well ask someone who looked good, right?

"Excuse me, Miss." He said politely after he and Starfire walked over to her. "Could you tell me where they're havin' the video game competition at?"

"Down that way." The girl pointed indifferently, barely glancing at him. Well, so much for being a ladies' man...

"Wait a minute," the girl said, looking closer at him. "Do I know you?"

"Uh, I don't think so..."

"Sure I do!" The girl's face suddenly brightened. "You're the new Titan, right?"

"Well, not exa-"

"Thank you for the information, bye!" Starfire said quickly, almost pushing Bard in the direction of the tournament.

Bard mused about that as they continued on. Starfire had almost seemed, well, jealous. But that wasn't right. Even a moron, (And he was sure that his sister would call him that sooner or later), could see the chemistry between her and Robin. Bard _definitely _did not want to muddy the proverbial waters. But Starfire was adorable, there was not doubt, and her sunny attitude always made the world seem like a brighter place. Bard shook his head as if to dispel those thoughts. She probably would have done the same with Cyborg or Beast Boy, he figured.

The video game tournament was being held right in the middle of the huge hallway of the mall and Bard was surprised at how big it was. Literally hundreds of arcade machines were lined up beside each other, and two times that many people gathered around to watch. Some were playing, but most were cheering for their friends and relatives in the competition.

As they drew closer, Bard saw that the arcade game was the new hit "Superhero Smackdown!" It was a tag team beat'em up fighting game that had taken the country by storm as soon as it was released. The graphics were crisp and the game play and combos were smooth, but the biggest reason the game was a hit was because the fighters you could choose from were of every superhero known to man...Including the Titans.

Bard's eyes were drawn to a one of the few girls that were participating in the tournament. He peeked over her blonde head at the game screen. She was playing as Raven and Starfire. She would smack her opponent with the digitalized Raven's black energy, then she would tag in Starfire and pummel him with green starbolts. Bard stared in consternation as he noticed something. The breasts of the on-screen Raven and Starfire were...decidedly larger than their real life counterparts. He coughed and blushed slightly.

But the blonde haired girl's opponent wasn't a slacker; nor would he go down without a fight. His team was Batman and Robin, the classic, Dynamic Duo. He would use Batman for the brunt, head on attack as Robin leapt over him and flung birdarangs.

"I'm gonna win!" The blond girl almost shrieked. "I'm gonna win! Die! _Die! __**DIE!**_"

Bard's heart sank to the pit of his stomach as a sickening suspicion overtook him. _Please_ let this be a huge coincidence...

Finally, the digitalized Raven and Starfire teamed up to fire a huge green and black beam that took out Batman and Robin.

"K.O!" A digitalized voice announced on the screen.

Starfire posed and held up a peace sign happily as Raven stood beside her with her arms folded across her chest.

"We are victorious!" A voice actor said for Starfire.

"Whatever," The sprite of Raven muttered.

"Yes!" The blonde girl called out. "I win, I win, I wiiiiiin!"

Bard wanted to move, but he couldn't. For some reason, his cowboy boots were planted to the floor.

The girl turned around to head to her match with her next opponent and, inevitably, the two locked eyes.

"Jonny?"


	7. Having Kittens

_"You don't have a ticket to go into Man Land!" - Bard_

_**CHAPTER SEVEN**_

_**HAVING KITTENS**_

This is a dream. No, not a dream; a nightmare. Yeah, that's what it is! I'll wake up any minute now and eat some breakfast and then maybe I'll fool around a bit with my new guitar...

Unfortunately for Bard, merely thinking of something did not make it reality. He was indeed standing between Kitten and Starfire in a crowded mall.

"Kitten!" Starfire almost hissed. "What are you doing here? How do you know friend Bard? Why do you call him Jonny?"

Bard closed his eyes and tried his darndest to will himself out of existence. He reopened his eyes. No such luck.

"I got out today." Kitten said. "What's it to _you_?"

"Tell me who provided the spring before I drag you back!" Starfire demanded.

Kitten blinked, but then she shook her head angrily. "You can't take me back! They just let me out today!"

This time it was Bard's turn to blink.

"Are you saying that you tried to get you dad to break you out of prison _one day_ before you were gonna get released?" He asked incredulously.

"Hmph, it was two days." Kitten folded her arms across her chest petulantly. "Besides, I didn't like it there."

Suddenly, she turned and looked up into Bard's face adoringly.

"So, you finally found me again." Kitten purred at him sweetly, her blue eyes, once again, almost appearing to be small pink hearts. "Where should we go for our first date?"

Both Starfire and Bard sweat dropped and looked as if they were about to faint.

"Round two is beginning!" Someone announced through a loudspeaker. "Participants please go to your stations!"

"Sorry, gotta go!" Kitten winked at Bard. "Don't go anywhere!" She gave him a quick peck on the cheek before scampering off.

It seemed that Starfire and Bard stared at each other for a full five minutes before either of them spoke. Bard could almost _see_ the questions in her eyes. Finally, he sighed.

"Come over here and I'll _try_ to explain." He finally told Starfire, gripping her wrist gently and leading her over to a nearby bench. Once seated, Bard told Starfire the abbreviated story of his encounter with Kitten during his first day as a Titan apprentice.

"So you seduced Kitten to obtain information about Killer Moth." Starfire summed up his story.

"Seduced?" Bard asked, his voice slightly pained.

"Is that not what you did?"

"Well, I reckon, maybe.." Bard conceded, rubbing the back of his neck. "But 'seduced' is such an ugly word, don'tcha think? How about...'persuaded'? It sounds nicer."

"Oh, very well then."

Just then, Robin materialized from the crowd and walked up to them.

"What's up?" He asked them casually.

"..."

"..."

"Uh, was it something I said?"

"Kitten was released and is now competing in the gaming competition." Starfire informed him.

"Is she causing trouble?" Robin asked, bending his knees slightly as if he were ready at any moment to spring into action.

"Not the kind of trouble _you're_ thinking about..." Bard muttered despondently.

"Friend Jonny seduced Kitten at the juvenile prison and now Kitten has asked him on a date."

"I thought we agreed on 'persuaded'." Bard commented to her blandly.

"Oh, sorry!" Starfire apologized quickly, bringing her hands to her mouth.

"Wait a minute." Robin told them, then looked sternly at Bard. "You told Starfire _and_ Kitten your real name?"

"And Raven." Bard told him as quietly as possible.

"_And Raven?!"_ Robin yelled. "You haven't done anything except break rules since you've been here!"

"Sorry!"

"Apology noted." Robin said firmly. "But I'm still going to have to punish you for this."

Bard's heart sank.

"You're not kicking me out, are you?"

"No, something worse." Robin told him, smiling evilly. Bard _knew_ for _sure_ that he didn't like that look.

"What are you going to do?" He asked apprehensively.

"It's not what _I'm_ going to do, Bard." The Boy Wonder said slyly. "It's what _you're_ going to do."

"What must friend Jonn- er, friend Bard do?" Starfire asked, almost as concerned as Bard himself.

"Bard - is - going - to - go - on - that - date - with - Kitten!" Robin cackled.

"No!" Starfire said, her eyes wide.

"You wouldn't do that!" Bard gasped. "There's no way you're that evil!"

Robin's smirk only grew larger.

But then, a sudden thought of salvation popped into Bard's head.

"I can't date her!" Bard said triumphantly. "I'm eighteen, and she's underage! Its illegal!"

Robin's smirk didn't falter.

"There no way you're getting off that easy." Robin told him. "I'm not asking you to have-" He stopped and glanced at Starfire. "Well, you know, with her. Just to date her."

Bard sunk his face into his hands with a sigh.

"I hate my life." He declared bitterly.

"I just won my second round match!" Kitten declared proudly as she walked up to them, but then she stopped when she saw Robin and Starfire.

"Why are you talking to Robin?" She demanded suspiciously to Bard. "And why is Starfire with you?"

Bard climbed to his feet and pulled the blonde girl to his side with one arm.

"Just catching up on old times." He explained to her, looking at the two Titans arrogantly. "I wanted to let'em know that those stupid pigs didn't read me my rights, so I got out scott-free." He looked at Robin. "Has that bloody nose healed yet, Boy Blunder? The last time I saw you, you were on the wrong end of my fist and squealing like a little girl."

Robin said nothing, but his face hardened. Bard wasn't sure if that was _entirely_ an act or not.

"If I wanted to," Bard continued with an oily smirk. "I could take your girlfriend there, but I've already got the most beautiful girl to walk God's green earth right here by my side. Isn't that right, Kitten?"

Kitten nodded shyly.

"This isn't the end of this." Robin warned him through gritted teeth. Bard was absolutely sure that this time, he _really_ meant that. Maybe the Starfire crack had been too much, but wasn't making him go on a date with Kitten even worse? He had a feeling, however, that this revenge wouldn't be sweet.

"Unless you want me to take you to the woodshed again," Bard threatened. "Me and Kitten are going to go get some lunch. C'mon, babe."

With that, he turned and lead Kitten away, all the while praying desperately that Robin wouldn't kill him when this was all over.

"I don't have time to eat." Kitten told him as they continued to walk together. "I have to get back and win the tournament!"

"How much time do you have before the next round?"

"Half an hour, but-"

"That'll be plenty of time." Bard assured her with his smooth, country voice. "Now, what do you want to eat?"

Suddenly, a brilliant idea popped into Bard's brain. It was brilliant simply because of the fact that it would work even if it didn't work... As an added bonus, he had eaten pizza the night before anyway, and he didn't want it again so soon.

"We can have anything _but_ pizza." He said firmly and, as Bard had suspected, Kitten immediately began to pout.

"But I want pizza!"

"Well, you can't have it." Bard said. "Now, what else do you want? There's a nice burger place up there." He suggested, pointing.

"I said I want pizza!" Kitten screeched, ignoring his suggestion completely. "I want pizza and I want it now! _Now! __**Now!**_"

They had arrived at the food court and Bard looked around at the different stores as calmly as ever. It was as if he hadn't even heard her.

"We'll have some burgers, then." He decided as if the choice was already agreed upon.

"Burgers!? I said I wanted _pizza_!"

"And _I_ said we're having burgers and that's final!" Bard told her bluntly, locking eyes with the blonde.

Kitten's blue eyes widened in shock, then hardened with anger. She looked as if she were about to throw the biggest tantrum ever known to man...but then she stopped and looked down.

"Okay," She said demurely.

Bard had mixed emotions about that. It had worked, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing. He had known what Kitten was from the start: A spoiled brat. He had reasoned that a spoiled brat was never satisfied. If one had everything they asked for the moment they asked for it, they didn't appreciate it, and as such, it was almost impossible for a spoiled brat to be happy. The secret to happiness was to earn those things you wanted so that you could truly enjoy them.

Then again, if the ploy hadn't worked, Kitten would have probably broken up with him on the spot and he would have been able to go back to the Titans. He had privately, and quite fervently, hoped for the latter.

They sat at small, square table after they had purchased the cheeseburgers and quietly began to eat. About halfway through his second and last burger, he looked up at Kitten and saw that she had a devious twinkle in her blue eyes. Bard mentally shrugged it off and began to bring his burger up for another bite, but he froze when he felt something touch his foot.

Bard raised a brown eyebrow at Kitten from under his cowboy hat, but the blonde paid it no heed. She was too busy grinning seductively from ear to ear. Then, her foot began to snake it's way upwards. First, it went up along his cowboy boot and climbed his calf. The light touch passed his knee next, then tickled up his thigh to his-

"Whoa!" Bard exclaimed, dropping his burger. He tried to stand up so fast that he only succeeded in banging both of his knees painfully into the bottom of the table. "You don't have a ticket to go into Man Land!"

"I know," Kitten purred sexily. "That's why I snuck in."

"Wouldn't do you any good, anyway!" Bard protested, his voice unusually shrill. "You're not even old enough to ride the roller coaster!"

"Yeah, well, the roller coaster has to be put into the tunnel at the end of the day..." She shot back suggestively with a wink.

Bard sweat dropped and blinked owlishly. He _definitely_ did _not_ like the way this conversation was going.

"Er, uh, well..." He floundered, desperately looking for an excuse to change the subject. "Isn't it about time to head back for the next round?"

Kitten's eyes widened.

"The tournament!" She exclaimed, suddenly remembering as she bolted up much more successfully then Bard had. "We have to go now!"

Without any further adieu, she grabbed Bard by the hand and literally dragged him back towards the competition.

"Kitten," the man on the loudspeaker said. "Please report to arcade number twenty three. I repeat, please report to arcade number twenty three."

"I'm here!" Kitten announced breathlessly as she arrived at the machine with Bard in tow.

Her opponent, a nerdy looking short kid with thick glasses nodded politely to her. Then, both of them gripped their respective joysticks, (Bard was eternally grateful that Kitten wasn't anywhere near _his _at the moment), and got ready.

"Fight!" The digital voice of the machine declared, and the nerd and Kitten began to furiously mash the buttons. Kitten had once again gone with the team of Raven and Starfire, and her opponent had chosen the Flash and Superman.

"Go, Kitten!" Bard said with mock enthusiasm, but secretly he hoped for her to suffer some humiliating defeat. It was a good fight, but in the end, Kitten came out on top.

"We have triumphed!" Polygon Starfire said.

"Woo hoo." Raven replied flatly on the screen.

"Yes!" Kitten whooped exultantly. "I win! On to the final round!"

"The match you've all been waiting for is coming up!" The man with the loudspeaker exclaimed excitedly. "The final round will be the firecracker Kitten, with her team of Raven and Starfire, versus the Teen Titans' own, Cyborg, with his team of himself and Beast Boy! The winner of this best out of three battle will take home a five hundred dollar gift certificate for any store in the mall and their very own arcade machine of "Smackdown Superheroes II" which will be released next year!"

A huge movie screen was brought down from the ceiling, so that everyone could watch the last fight.

"That's all gonna be mine!" Bard heard Cyborg say to himself as he and Kitten walked up to his machine for the final battle. The Titan's eyes were so glued to the screen that he didn't even notice Bard was there.

"Fight!"

Cyborg won the first match easy. After a few counters and counter-counters, he had Beast Boy turn into and elephant to trample Raven and Starfire into submission.

"Yeah!" The pixilated Cyborg said, almost at the same time as his real life counterpart.

"Dude, we are _so_ good!" Beast Boy said, licking his palm and running his hand through his hair.

"You cheated!" Kitten yelled at Cyborg. "You trapped me in the corner!"

"Hey, it ain't cheatin' if the game allows you to do it!"

"Fight!" Came the voice from the machine.

This time, Kitten caused Starfire and Raven to fly up into the sky so that they couldn't be trapped on the ground. She pummeled Cyborg and Beast Boy with starbolts and dark, obsidian energy. Since Cyborg couldn't fly, it quickly became a two on one affair and Kitten came out victorious.

"That was just a lucky round." Cyborg said intensely, narrowing his eyes in preparation for the final round.

"Fight!"

Kitten tried to put Raven and Starfire up into the air again, but this time Cyborg blasted at them with his sonic cannon, keeping them pinned to the ground. Then, Beast Boy turned back into an elephant and, once again, pinned the female duo in the corner.

"_No!_" Kitten shrieked. "_I'm gonna lose! I don't wanna lose! __**I don't wanna lose! **__**I don't wanna LOOOOSSSSEEEEE!**_"

Bard felt like covering up his ears. How could a girl that small make so much blasted noise? God, she was loud! He would do _anything_ to just shut her up! Now he knew how Killer Moth must feel... Against his better judgment, he leaned forward on his tip toes to whisper into Cyborg's ear.

"Sure was sweet to pick your boyfriend as your partner!" He said mockingly.

"What?!" Cyborg exclaimed, his eyes bulging. "Don't make me rip your arms off you little- Bard?" It came out as almost as a whisper when he saw him.

Cyborg had only turned away from the screen for a moment, but it was more than enough time for Kitten to maneuver Raven and Starfire out of the corner and up into the air. Now she had the distinct advantage and looked as if she would win.

Bard felt bad, though. He had just cheated his friend out of something that meant a lot to him. Maybe he could make it even... Bard did the only thing he could think of to distract Kitten in that short period of time He reached out and pinched Kitten's butt.

"Eep!" But it was too late, she had already flung the starbolt that took out the two male Titans.

"That was fun!" Starfire exclaimed.

"This is pointless." Raven said flatly.

Meanwhile, Kitten was performing a quite lewd victory dance as Cyborg fell to his knees and brought both hands to his head despairingly.

"I can't believe I..._lost_!"

"Well, believe it, Clunkhead!" Kitten told him happily. "I am the Queen of Games!"

Quite the contrary, Bard was not happy at _all_. First of all, he was stuck with Kitten and had to go out with her on a date; a punishment Robin's sick and depraved mind had conjured. And now he had at least two of his fellow teammates angry with him. Maybe even three, if Starfire had taken offense to the crack he had taken at her and Robin. Bard doubted that, however. Starfire didn't seem like the kind of person to hold a grudge. Nonetheless, it felt as if things couldn't get much worse at this point. But, of course, he was wrong.

"Looky what I got!" Kitten exclaimed, waving a piece of paper over her head as she ran back towards him.

"The check?" Bard asked.

Kitten nodded her head so fast that Bard was afraid it might fall off her shoulders. Not _exactly_ a bad thing...

"It's the five hundred dollar check to any store in the mall!" Kitten clarified. "You know what this means, don't you?"

Bard shook his head mutely, fearing the worse.

"We're going on a shopping spree, of course!" She almost gushed. "You can watch me try on clothes. You can tell me how good they look, then you can tell me how good they look on the _floor_ and then you can carry the bags...Oh! And I might get some furniture! You'll _have_ to help me with that. Then..."

Bard tuned her out as she gibbered on mindlessly. He had been wrong. It could and _had _gotten worse.

"I hate my life." He repeated for the second time that day, reluctantly falling in to follow behind a beaming Kitten.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Robin and Starfire across the hall. Maybe he could get out of this yet!

"Go on ahead." He told Kitten, interrupting her mindless dribble. "I'll catch up."

"You better not be long!"

"I won't!" Bard assured her. As soon as the walking, talking devil disguised as a girl was out of sight, he ran as fast as his legs would take him towards Robin and flung himself at the Boy Wonder's feet.

"Please don't make me go on a date with Kitten!" He pleaded. "That girl's gonna end up raping me! I've learned my lesson, honest! I'll do anything you say! Just please, please, _please_ let me go back to the tower and never see her again!"

Robin sweat dropped, then opened his mouth to say the word or phrase that would be Bard's salvation or damnation.


	8. Back To Where?

_"The last time we got a package like that, I got zapped into a doll! Worse than that, they're weren't any Barbies around!" - Beast Boy_

_**CHAPTER EIGHT**_

_**BACK TO WHERE!?**_

Starfire's expression was one of extreme compassion as she looked down at Bard's pleading blue eyes from where he was still clutching Robin's ankles.

"He has repented, Robin!" She told Robin passionately, unconsciously laying a soft hand on Bard's shoulder. "He will never break any of your rules again!"

"That's right!" Bard said fervently, nodding so quickly that some of his hair was pulled out of his omnipresent ponytail to swoop down and frame his face. "Never again. Never!"

The white slits in Robin's eye mask were thoughtful as he crossed his arms across his chest contemplating.

"I don't know..." He said dubiously.

"C'mon man, I'll do anything!" Bard cajoled desperately, deathly afraid that he would have to be Kitten's love slave again. "I'll wash the R-Cycle! I'll clean your room! I'll do the dishes for a month! I'll even clean the whole frickin' _tower!_ Just _please_ let me go home!"

"You have dated Kitten yourself, Robin." Starfire pointed out to him. "Surely you know how horrible the experience must be."

Robin sighed in defeat. There wasn't much he could refuse when Starfire was asking him.

"All right," He broke down finally. "But I want you to understand that if you ever break any of my rules again..."

"Never again! From now on, I'll be a model Titan!" Bard promised, climbing back to his feet.

"Good," Robin approved.

"Does this mean that Bard had been unhooked?" Starfire asked.

"Yeah," Robin nodded. "I think he's learned his lesson."

"Oh, thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Bard said exuberantly. "If I was gay, I'd give you a big ole whopper on the lips right now! Heck, I might just do it anyway!" He joked.

Robin's eyes, or the white slits in his mask that passed for eyes, narrowed crossly at the titan apprentice.

"If you kiss me, you're going to _marry_ Kitten." He growled threateningly.

"Er, right! I'll just kiss Starfire inst-" Bard stopped abruptly when he saw that Robin's face had darkened dangerously.

"Um, well...I guess there's been enough kissing for one day, anyway." He tried futilely to cover himself up. "I think I'm going to go back to the tower and train diligently. Perhaps, after years of rigorous work, I will become a mere shade to Robin's greatness, who will surely go down in history as the greatest and mightiest superhero of all time!"

"Do that." Robin grated from between clenched teeth.

Bard left rather hurriedly at that point. He _did_, however, make one quick side trip to one of the many video game stores in the mall. He walked out to his Harley with a large, white bag with _"EB Games"_ printed on the side and an empty wallet. He had just straddled the seat of his vehicle and put his hands on the handlebars when he heard her.

"_Jonny!" _Kitten shrieked, her hands on her hips. "_Just __**where**__ do you think __**you're**__ going!? In case you forgot, we still have __**shopping **__to do!"_

Bard's smile was beatific as he looked over his should at the blonde jezebel.

"Sorry, Kitten, but it just isn't working out between us." His grin nearly split his face. "It's not me, it's you!"

_**"What!? You can't-"**_

But her voice was lost in the sound of a roaring motor and screeching tires as Bard started the bike, hit the gas as hard as he could and zoomed away. He stole one quick look at the side mirror. Kitten was jumping up and down on the sidewalk, her face beet red with anger and her fists clenched so tightly that Bard thought her fingernails might just be drawing blood. She was still screaming, but, thankfully, Bard couldn't hear her. Allowing himself a pleasant little chuckle, he sped on towards the tower. He lit up a cigarette as he stopped at a red light a safe distance away from the mall. He knew it was bad for him, but after what he just went through, he was pretty sure he deserved one.

Back at Titans Tower, Bard made a quick stop at his room to deposit his guitar and shopping bag. Then, he headed straight for the training room. He looked around at all of the equipment for the first time. He had been in here once before, of course, but at that time he was more worried about Robin contorting his limbs into something that resembled a pretzel than what the room was actually like. The place had _everything_. Dozens of dumbbells were everywhere. Treadmills, punching bags, and anything and everything any superhero could possibly need to hone his senses and tone his body was in this room.

Bard decided to take it slow. He walked pass the sophisticated equipment to the center of the big, blue training mat, all the while stretching his arms and legs slightly. Once there, he reached around to the small of his back and brought out the retractable metal staff stuck in his belt that Robin had given him. After a few moments of examination, he found the small, almost invisible button that detracted the weapon. He pushed it with his thumb.

**PFFT!**

The end of the staff came within an inch from Bard's silver spectacles. It had come _way_ too close to breaking his glasses and gouging his eye out. He sweat dropped nervously.

Ooookay... Note to self: Be more careful when opening this thing.

Bard had no idea how to use a staff, but he _was_ athletic and had good hand-eye coordination. Trying to mimic Robin to the T, he held the weapon over his head and twirled it as fast he could...for about five seconds. After that, the staff flew out of his hands and was flung across the room. For the second time since coming back to the tower, Bard sweat dropped again. This was a lot harder than it looked...

Bard frowned. As the newcomer to the Teen Titans, he was late to the game. He had to do something drastic to catch up his skill level with the others. Smiling as the solution came to him, he left the gym, pausing only to retrieve the staff and stick it back into his belt, and went in search for a phone.

Bard was sitting on the couch playing his guitar when the Titans returned. At his feet sat the white shopping bag.

"Do not despair, Cyborg!" Starfire was saying consolingly. "There will be other competitions for you to win!"

"But I wanted to win _this_ one!"

"C'mon, Cy!" Beast Boy said, trying to cheer his half-robot friend up. "You beat _me_ in the next to last round. What could be more sweet than that?"

"I'll tell you what could be sweeter than that!" Cyborg yelled, seeming to grow even larger as Beast Boy seemed to shrink. "Five hundred bucks and a 'Smackdown Superheroes II' arcade game! That's what!"

"Shessh, I was only trying to help!" Beast Boy muttered his objection.

"Well, don't!" Cyborg ordered harshly, turning to stomp away. Bard sat aside his guitar and stood up. If he was going to make amends with his new friend, he'd have to do it now or never.

"Cyborg-" He started.

"What?" Cyborg snapped irritably.

Bard blinked. From the tone of his voice, he could tell that Cyborg was really, _really_ angry, and Bard definitely did _not_ want to be on the wrong end of a sonic cannon.

"Er, I just want to apologize for distracting you during your match."

"Fine," Cyborg clipped sullenly, turning again to walk away.

"And, uh, I got you something." Bard continued quickly before he could escape. "You know, to kinda make up for it."

Cyborg's face seemed a bit less surly at that.

"What is it?" He asked.

Bard dug into the white bag.

"'Smackdown Superheroes' for the Playcube X-2!" He announced, holding up the rectangular, plastic CD case that contained the game.

"Cool!" Cyborg approved enthusiastically, seeming to forget his disappointment and anger as he reached forward across the couch to snatch the game from Bard's grasp, but Bard held it up over his head, just out of his friend's reach.

"Not so fast," he said. "There's more."

"Dude, this is _so_ cool." Beast Boy said excitedly. "It's like an early Christmas, or somethin'!"

"Last, but not least..." Bard said, reaching into the bag once again. "Is two, that's right, count'em: _two_, arcade style controllers!"

"All right, thanks man!" Cyborg forgave him.

"Awesome!" Beast Boy backed him up.

Bard grinned like a father watching his two kids play with their presents on Christmas morning as Cyborg and Beast Boy immediately hooked up the two controllers, inserted the new game into the console and started playing.

"That was a very sweet and considerate thing you did." Starfire said to Bard approvingly, looking warmly at the happy smiles on Cyborg's and Beast Boy's face before they disappeared into grimaces of concentration.

"Yeah, well, if I hadn't cheated him out of the tournament in the first place, he'd've won a whole lot more than what I gave him."

"Perhaps," Starfire agreed. "But, as you say, it is the thought that does the counting, correct?"

Surprisingly, Bard didn't even bat an eyelash at the mispronunciation of the phrase. He had already gotten used to it. Her words, however, did make him feel a little better. As he had noted before, Starfire would always be a pillar of strength for her teammates to lean on. If this was the NBA, the MVP award would go to her every single time.

"Where did you get the money to buy all that?" Robin asked him curiously. He'd be the runner-up.

"I had some cash saved up from doing some odd jobs on the way here." Bard shrugged.

"How much do you have left?"

"I'm totally broke. To tell the truth, I was short five dollars and some change, but when I told the man it was for a Titan, he went ahead and let me have it all." Bard admitted, a bit shamefaced.

"Well, don't worry about it." Robin told him, clapping him on the shoulder. "We'll help you out if you need anything."

"Thanks," Bard replied, nodding gratefully at his leader.

**DING DONG!**

"Whoa," Beast Boy said, turning away from the game. "Is that deja-vu or what?"

"Whoa," Beast Boy said, turning away from the game. "Is that deja-vu or what?

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Aw, c'mon!" Beast Boy said. "That was funny!"

"I'll get it," Bard volunteered, already heading towards the elevator. When he arrived at the bottom floor, he saw a man in a brown UPS uniform holding a clipboard through the front glass doors. Beside him stood a brown, wooden crate perhaps three feet high. Bard opened the door.

"Can I help you?" He asked politely.

"Package delivery," The man said, his voice bored. "Sign here please."

"Sure thing." Bard took the clipboard and ink pen from the man and had already written a big, cursive J before he stopped himself. He was still green, no offense to Beast Boy, of course. He had just about revealed his secret identity to UPS. Bard laughed inwardly at that. Him having a secret identify humored him, for some reason, not to mention what diabolical deeds UPS could commit with his real name. He marked out the J and replaced it with 'Bard'.

"Here you go," The delivery man said, nudging the box with his foot. "Have a good day."

"You, too." Bard called after him, then he looked down at the crate curiously. On the top of the box was a label that read: From: Mayor Jacob Collens To: The Teen Titans. Bard shrugged, picked up the box and started back towards the elevator. He entered and pushed the appropriate button.

"We got a package!" Bard announced back in the main room, putting down the crate. "Let's see what's in this thing."

"Wait!" Everyone yelled simultaneously.

Bard blinked and froze in the act of reaching down and taking off the lid. Then he raised an questioning eyebrow at them.

"The last time we got a package like that, I got zapped into a doll!" Beast Boy said with a shudder. "Worse than that, they're weren't any Barbies around!"

"..."

"Never mind, Bard." Robin told him, waving Beast Boy into silence. "Let me call up Raven and _then_ we'll see what's in this crate." The Boy Wonder took out his communicator and opened it up with a sound that reminded Bard of 'Star Trek'. Bard was sure that Control Freak would get a kick out of that.

"Why are we making such a big deal out of a package?" Bard asked, obviously not understanding why everyone was being so cautious.

"The address of Titans Tower isn't a secret, ya know." Cyborg told him pointedly, getting up off the couch and shutting off the game and television to walk over. "And there are a number of people who just don't like us. It could be a bomb, for all we know." The half-robot typed in something on his forearm, just as Raven entered. "It's safe." He announced, after scanning the package with some kind of electronic device on his arm.

"All right, Bard." Robin said to him. "Open it up."

Slowly, Bard lifted up the top of the crate as the rest of the Titans gathered around to peer in beside him curiously. When the top was completely off, everyone stood in stunned silence as they looked into the contents of the crate.

"That has _got_ to be the scariest thing I have ever seen." Beast Boy quipped in shock.

"You have got to be kiddin' me!" Cyborg said disbelievingly.

"This is not happening." Robin groaned.

"..."

"What is it, friends?" Starfire asked worriedly, peering into the box at the notebooks, paper, folders, ink pens and pencils.

"School supplies." Bard clarified for her, his voice sounding sick.

"School?" Starfire asked, her voice puzzled. "But we do not go to school, do we not?"

Beast Boy nodded glumly.

"That's why this is so scary..." He explained.

Robin reached into the box and pulled out a typed document.

"Dear Teen Titans," he read the letter aloud to them. "To thank you for the service your brave acts provide the city each day, I, Mayor Collens, will reward you by enrolling you into William H. Shepard High School. Education is the best gift of all, is it not? I understand that your time is valuable, so I have decided that you will need only one year of schooling before receiving your high school diplomas. Also, you will take all of your classes together and, of course, will be free to leave without penalty should any emergency arrive. Keep up the good work, Titans! Your friend, Mayor Jacob Collens."

"This is supposed to be considered a _gift_?" Beast Boy demanded incredulously. "Aw, man..."

"This is worse than Control Freak's and Mumbo Jumbo's bad puns combined!" Cyborg almost wailed.

Robin looked over and caught Bard's despairing look.

"What are you worried about?" The Boy Wonder asked him. "You eighteen and you just jumped into the superhero business a few days ago, you've already finished school."

"Uh, well..." Bard rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I kinda, um, dropped out."

"What a role model," Raven droned flatly. "You've dropped out of school, you ride your motorcycle without a helmet and you smoke. Do you have a heroin problem, too?"

"Don't forget the cussing!" Beast Boy piped in.

"Only that one time!" Bard defended himself.

Beast Boy blinked.

"Heroin?"

"No, I meant the cussing!"

"Oh," Beast Boy laughed nervously. "You had me worried there for a sec!"

"You smoke?" Robin asked Bard quickly.

"I'm in the process of quittin'." Bard replied almost automatically.

"You know I can't allow you to smoke here in the tower, or in public." Robin said to him firmly.

Bard nodded.

"Raven told me."

Robin grunted slightly in reply and then looked around at his despondent teammates.

"I never thought I'd say this..." He admitted to them. "But: Titan's, get ready for school!"

Everyone groaned.

Bard was definitely restless that night. He was wide awake and his brain absolutely refused to turn off, no matter out many times Bard tried. All kinds of turbulent thoughts and images flew through his head: His arrival at the tower, his unpleasant adventures with Kitten, finding out he had a sister, his new friends and, most of all, about the prospect of going back to school. He also thought about how all of his teammates would react to public school.

Robin wouldn't have much of a problem, Bard guessed. It was easy to see he was extremely intelligent, and Batman probably taught him more than Yale, Princeton, and Harvard college combined would have. The Boy Wonder would probably find school a nuisance, however. He would see it simply as just a waste on his time when it could be used much more productively in tracking down the baddies and training. All in all, though, he was probably the most adaptable.

Raven, on the other hand, might just have the most trying time. Though she might like, or in her words 'tolerate', certain individuals, humanity as a whole set her teeth on edge. She did not feel comfortable in crowds and she would have to be much more pressed to control her powers completely with that many people around. He would have to keep a close eye on her and help her as much as he could.

Cyborg and Beast Boy would probably fit in the easiest. Cyborg was incredibly smart, even if he was sometimes a bit immature and Beast Boy could make friends with a tom cat, even if he wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. The changeling's only problem would be making the grade, though Bard doubted that would be problem with Cyborg helping him and Robin shoving homework down everyone's throat.

Bard himself, well, he did not like school at all; never had. It was part of the reason he had quit in his tenth grade year and went off on his Harley to pursue a music career in Nashville, Tennessee. Of course, that plan had changed when he found out that he had superpowers. They had given him a much more important calling than singing and picking his guitar, even if it was his ultimate dream.

But besides that, Bard had always felt that he never fit in. His fashion statement, the cowboy boots, cowboy hat and tight, Wrangler jeans might have had something to do with it, but it was more than that. Even though he hadn't known it at the time, it might have been because he was a half-demon. Whatever the case, he had never been able to connect with anyone, and high school can be a very lonely place sometimes.

But most of all, Bard worried about Starfire. High school kids could sometimes be cruel, and some may want to exploit her innocence and naivety. Sometimes it pained him to know that, without her fellow Titans to shield her, the compassionate, optimistic light that made Starfire the wonderful person she was could be put out by the mindless brutality that had always lain hidden in the human spirit. Robin would protect her, of course, and so would the other Titans, since they would be together at all times. But that wasn't enough for Bard, however. Just as sleep finally began to tug on his awareness, he made a vow; a vow that he would never break. He would give his very life to keep anyone from extinguishing Starfire's light.

_His very life..._


	9. Bad Start

_"Your heart is weak. Mark my words, son, your compassion will be your greatest regret. Maybe even sooner than you think." - Trigon_

_**CHAPTER NINE**_

_**BAD START**_

He was having the dream again.

He was standing alone, with an infinite black sky all around him and the brown, rocky crag that served as a narrow walkway beneath his boots. There was a dangerous hissing and Bard turned quickly to see an inky shadow with four, slanted red eyes that glowed threateningly and a great, salivating, gaping mouth occupied by sharp, glittering fangs stalking him. Automatically, Bard fell into a defensive stance, but the fearsome creature suddenly seemed frightened and slunk away into the darkness. But it was not afraid of Bard.

It was afraid of what was standing _behind_ Bard.

Somehow knowing there was an evil behind him, Bard spun quickly to come face to face with the being he now knew as his father. Trigon looked the same as always. The same long white hair that, Bard suddenly realized sickly, looked very much like his own; The four, soulless black eyes and dark red skin. But those black eyes were not filled with disappointment, as they had always been. Always before, Trigon looked at Bard as if he were an illegitimate accident. Then he would leave him in peace.

But now, those black eyes stared into him with deadly intensity that chilled Bard to the bone.

"**Greetings, son."** Trigon acknowledged him finally in his deep, gravelly voice.

"What do you want?" Bard asked suspiciously. The voice of his father struck fear into the deepest recesses of his heart, but he somehow managed to keep a bit of steely defiance in his tone.

"**I simply wish to know you**." Trigon explained, though their was an amused look on his ghoulish face. "**What kind of a father would I be otherwise?**"

"Father?!" Bard spat, almost forgetting his fear. "You were never my father and you never will be. My _true_ father loves me and has the _real_ power. You slink in the shadows and try to convert the weak-minded. You can't even trick your own children into serving you!"

Trigon's four eyes widened and turned yellow as a dreadful anger appeared on his face. But then, the yellow slowly poured away like syrup from a jar.

"**That is why I have refused to waste my time on you.**" Trigon told him spitefully. "**Your faith in **_**him**_** weakens you. You have no idea what true power is. You have always been the good one. Your heart is weak. Mark my words, son, your compassion will be your greatest regret. Maybe even sooner than you think.**"

Bard's blue eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean?!" He demanded.

But Trigon said nothing. Instead, his flesh melted into an image that made Bard's chest constrict, for some reason.

"Starfire?!"

"**You know you love 'me', Bard.**" 'Starfire' teased, her large, green eyes boring into Bard's unrelentingly. "**Admit it.**"

"Of course I do." Bard said as calmly as possible, trying to hide the catch in his throat. "She is simply my friend, probably my best friend. Everyone loves Starfire."

"_Only_ as a friend, Bard?" 'Starfire' asked, this time in the real Tammaran's voice. She stepped forward and took his hand softly in hers, peering up with those innocent eyes. Bard's own eyes softened for a moment, but then they hardened and he pushed her away quickly.

"Get away from me, demon!" He yelled harshly. "I already told you, you can't trick me! Now stop wasting my time!"

Meanwhile, Trigon had transformed back into his demon form and was laughing in self-satisfaction.

"**Your emotions are turbulent, son.**" Trigon said, looking upwards. "**I can almost smell the conflict. A troubled heart is always the easiest to crush.**"

Bard followed Trigon's gaze to the 'sky' and saw to what he was referring to. Normally, the surrounding emptiness was just that; empty and black. But now, there were different colors above him, clashing together as if in battle with multicolored sparks.

"I'll never give into you!" Bard yelled, trying to keep his strong front alive.

"**That remains to be seen, son.**" Trigon growled, and Bard would give just about _anything_ to have this monster stop addressing him as 'son'. That was probably why he did it so often. "**Now, isn't it about time you woke up?**"

And with that, Bard bolted upright in bed, sweating and trembling. For a long time, he simply sat there, gazing unseeingly into the darkness around him. Finally, he wiped the perspiration from his face and glanced over at his alarm clock. The bright, red numbers told him that it was 5:59 am. Sighing, he stood up. A glass of water might calm his nerves, and then he would _try_ to go back to sleep.

**BRRRIIIIING! BRRRRIIINNNGG!**

Bard fell over to the floor out of surprise just before he reached his door. It was that stupid alarm clock...but why did he set it in the first place? He lay there on the floor, exactly how he had landed, thinking for a few moments until the answer finally hit him. Today, he and the rest of the Titans were going back to school. He groaned.

This was _not_ the best way to start a new day.

Since Bard was the first one to wake up, he was able to beat the other Titans in the mad scramble to the bathroom. He quickly showered, brushed his teeth and dressed, then he found himself in the kitchen with Cyborg.

"Good mornin'"

"Mornin'" Bard replied, walking past the table his friend was sitting at to make himself a bowl of cereal. "What are you doin' up so early?"

"Hey, I don't need as much sleep as you do." Cyborg explained. "All I have to do is just jack in, juice up and I'm ready to go."

Bard nodded, sat down at the table and poured milk in his bowl of Fruit Loops.

"So," he said to Cyborg as he dipped in his spoon. "Looking forward to school?"

"Actually, I am." Cyborg admitted a bit shamefully. "I've always liked to learn, ya know?"

Bard threw a milky grin at his friend. "It's our secret." He assured him. "You're probably the only one looking forward to this, though."

"Nope." Cyborg contradicted him. "Beast Boy's excited about it, too."

One of Bard's eyebrows raised.

"He doesn't really look like the book worm type." Bard objected.

"Don't get me wrong, he could care less 'bout learnin' anything." Cyborg said. "He just wants to 'mingle' with all the 'hot chicks'."

"I should have known." Bard chuckled, shaking his head.

"That's Beast Boy for ya." Cyborg smiled. "So, how about you? You ready for some ed-u-cate-tion?"

"I'm dreading it." Bard confided in him.

"What for?"

"Never fit in." Bard told him shortly.

"Oh." Cyborg blinked, but then he said: "Well, this time you'll have us to hang out with, right?"

Bard was about to answer that when Robin and Starfire entered the room.

"Happy morning, friends!" Starfire greeted them, joyful and bubbly as always.

Cyborg waved.

'_**Now I see why you like her so much.**_' Trigon said tauntingly inside Bard's head. "_**She's one hot little number, isn't she?**_"

Bard's eyes widened in shock and surprise. He hadn't know that his so called 'father' could come to him when he was awake.

"Are you unwell?" Starfire asked with concern in her eyes, obviously noticing Bard's expression.

"Of course not," Bard said quickly. "I'm just-"

"_**Look at those full, pouty lips, son. I sure would like to-**_"

"Shut up!" Bard growled at the meddling voice from under his breath.

"What was that, Bard?" Starfire asked.

_**'Hahahahahahahahhahha.'**_

"Nothing!" Bard lied quickly, trying his best to ignore that infernal, taunting laughter. "Just talkin' to myself is all. Good morning."

Starfire looked at him with that expression of concern for a moment longer, but then her smile returned. Nothing could keep that smile dormant for very long. That thought made Bard feel better, for some reason. It also seemed to shut Trigon up as well, for the moment, anyway.

"Happy morning, then." Starfire said to him again, walking past him into the kitchen to find something to eat.

Raven entered not too long after that. Her face was as impassive as ever, but her feet seemed to move, almost to trudge, reluctantly. Suddenly, she looked up at Bard in surprise.

"Good mornin'" Bard said to her slowly, seeing the look. His greeting was almost a question. His sister's purple eyes lingered on him for a moment more, but then she looked away, seemingly indifferent.

"No it's not." She deadpanned.

"But Raven," Starfire objected optimistically. "The day had not even begun. This day may very well be the best in your entire lifespan!"

"...Don't count on it."

"Have you seen Beast Boy, Raven?" Robin asked.

She shook her head.

"He's probably still in front of his mirror making himself pretty for all the ladies he's not gonna pick up today." Cyborg joked.

"I heard that!" Beast Boy called out just as he entered the room. He looked different. _A lot_ different. All of the other Titans were still in their uniforms and Bard was wearing his customary boots, hat, jeans and sleeveless shirt. Beast Boy, however, did not wear his usual black and purple spandex uniform. Instead, his dark green hair was slicked back and he wore a pair of black shades over his eyes. He had on a black, leather jacket over a white shirt and light colored jeans.

"So, am I hot or am I hot?" Beast Boy asked outrageously, striking a pose.

"You look like a reject from 'Grease'!" Cyborg laughed.

"Nonsense, there is no grease on his clothes." Starfire turned consolingly to Beast Boy. "You look very...nice!"

"See! Starfire thinks I look cool!" Beast Boy beamed. "I'm gonna make all the chicks swoon!" He leapt behind Raven to look over her shoulder. "So...Raven, is your heart pounding like a sledgehammer yet? I _do_ have that kinda effect on girls, ya know."

"It's not pounding yet." Raven said flatly. "But if you want a hammer in _your_ chest, I can have it arranged."

"Er, no thanks, Raven." Beast Boy sweat dropped.

"Then _leave-me-alone_!" She grated between clenched teeth. Beast Boy retreated quickly.

"Since everyone's here." Robin said to them all, standing up. "Let's go over some ground rules. Keep in mind that we are still the Teen Titans and that we are role models. No cutting up, no pranks, no fighting and no missed assignments. We have got to be absolutely perfect students. Got it?"

Everyone nodded.

"And Bard," Robin added. "If I hear of _anyone_ seeing you smoking on school grounds, I swear I'll give Kitten your phone number. Understood?"

Bard gulped audibly.

"Understood." He agreed quickly.

"Good," Robin said. "Now, everyone get their notebooks, pens and pencils together. We're going to school!"

"Aw, man!" Beast Boy complained. "I didn't even have time to eat any tofu waffles!"

"You spent too much time combing your hair." Bard suggested.

"Only thirty minutes!" Beast Boy defended himself.

Bard blinked.

"Thirty minutes!?"

"You probably take twice as long with all that hair you got!"

"This," Bard said, taking off his cowboy hat and pointing to his hair. "Only takes me about two minutes. All I do is brush it back and wrap it up in a pony tail."

"That all I did!"

"Except for the facts that your hair isn't long enough to put into a pony tail and you used four pounds of hair gel! No offense to you, Robin." Bard added quickly with a grin. Robin and Beast Boy glared at the cowboy while Raven, Cyborg and Starfire snickered.

"Didn't I just say it's time to go?" Robin growled threateningly.

Bard got the point immediately.

"Yes, sir!" He saluted quickly. Needless to say, Bard was the first one in the elevator. Once the group reached the garage, Cyborg, Beast Boy and Starfire piled into the T-Car and Robin mounted the R-Cycle.

"You comin' or what?" Cyborg asked Raven, who had stopped short of the car.

"Go ahead." She told him. "I'm going to ride with Bard."

"Suit yourself," Cyborg shrugged. "Meet ya'll at school!' He hit the gas and the tires screeched as the supped up car zoomed away. Bard waited until Robin had left as well, then he turned to Raven.

"So," he said to his sister casually. "What did you want to talk about?"

Raven stared at him. "Am I that obvious?"

Bard nodded with a slight smile, but Raven had already continued on more seriously.

"He's talking to you, isn't he?"

His smile disappeared. Bard should have figured that she would have known. He nodded grimly. There was never any doubt to who her 'he' had been referring to.

"You seemed fairly happy this morning for someone who has the devil whispering in his ear." Raven observed.

Bard shrugged. "I won't let him dictate my life. We both know that I'm out of his reach and eventually he'll get bored."

"Don't underestimate him."

"I'm not ignoring him, I'm just...isolating him, is all."

Raven nodded once. "Just be careful." She warned. "Are you ready to go now?"

"I was born ready." Bard replied lightly, getting on the motorcycle and then, just as before, turned to help his sister on behind him. He turned the ignition and they were off. Bard smoked a cigarette during their ride to the high school. He knew that it would be a long time before he could have another one.

Once they arrived at the school, Bard quickly found the R-Cycle in the student parking lot and parked beside it. Robin and the others were there to meet them.

"Look at all the _la-dies!_" Beast Boy exclaimed, lowering his shades for an unobstructed view.

"Try to keep your predatory instincts under control." Robin told him dryly, then he turned to the rest of the team. "Ready? Let's go."

The Teen Titans, plus Bard, made their way along the concrete sidewalk and inside the multiple glass doors that led into the school. The hallway they stopped in was incredibly crowded and noisy. Only a few kids had noticed them as of yet, but Bard was fairly sure that wouldn't last very long; especially when Beast Boy started spitting out cheesy pickup lines like melon seeds.

"Where to now, Robin?" Starfire asked, making her voice loud enough to be heard.

"The principal's office." He replied. "We should be able to get our class schedule there."

"Case in point," Raven said, looking slightly nervous at the crowd around her. "Where is the principal's office?"

Robin shrugged.

"We could always ask someone." Starfire suggested.

Bard smiled inwardly at that. He knew the deal. Quickly, he looked around. He spotted a pretty, dark-haired girl with delicate white skin wearing a trendy, light blue dress. He tapped her on the shoulder lightly.

"Excuse me, Miss." He said politely. "But-"

"Do I _look_ like a 'Miss' to you?" The girl demanded, looking over her nose at him and planting her hands on her hips.

"Er, well..." Bard stammered, totally unprepared for that kind of reaction. "I just wanted to ask you where the principal's office is."

"Oh, that." She said haughtily. "It's off that way." She gestured rather vaguely. "Now, if you'll _excuse _me, I want to go see my boyfriend before class starts."

Bard watched her prissy strut as she walked away.

"He certainly doesn't stay with you for your attitude." He muttered under his breath. Watching her walk away, however, gave him a pretty good guess at why he did.

"She sure was fallin' head over heels for ya, huh Bard?" Beast Boy grinned at him sarcastically.

"My rugged good looks and sexy ways were too much for her." He murmured almost automatically. Then he turned back to Robin. "She said the principal's office is down that way." He pointed. "She didn't get any more specific than that."

Robin nodded.

"I'm sure we can find it." He said confidently, leading them off.

It took them perhaps five minutes to finally find the principal's office with their sketchy directions, and the principal insisted on meeting them personally. He was skinny, balding man with small glasses he seemed to be constantly pushing back up onto his nose.

"I'm Mr. Elling!" He introduced himself quickly, enthusiastically shaking each of their hands. "It's such a honor to have you here. Anything you need, you come straight to me!"

"Uh, the honor's all ours." Robin lied diplomatically to him. "But all we really need right now is our class schedule."

"Of course, of course!" The principal nodded in fast forward. He reached into his coat pocket and handed him a small, square piece of paper The Boy Wonder glanced down at it.

"Aren't we supposed to have six classes?" He asked. "There are only four here."

The principal nodded again.

"I know your time is valuable, so I decided that you would only need to take the core subjects. Math, Science, History and English. After you take those classes, you're free to go. You will need one extracurricular activity, however." He added, almost as an afterthought.

Bard's smile at that went unnoticed. The sooner he could out of this place, the better.

"Thanks, Mr. Elling." Robin said, then he led the others out.

"So, what's our first class, man?" Cyborg asked him as they followed their leader down the hallway.

"English." Robin answered. "Room 402. Mrs. Wilson."

Beast Boy was totally ignoring them. He was too busy scanning the crowd around them.

"Brunette, brunette, redhead, brunette...Jackpot! A blonde!" Beast Boy said happily, almost bouncing over to the girl.

"One track mind." Raven muttered.

Meanwhile, Beast Boy had suddenly frozen in his tracks halfway over to the girl in question.

"Eep!" The green little changeling ran back over to his comrades as quickly as he could.

"What is the matter?" Starfire asked.

"It's her!" Beast Boy blurted.

A large, yellow question mark seemed to appear over Starfire's head. She opened her mouth to question him further, but then she looked over his head and her eyes went flat when she saw the blonde.

"Kitten!" She almost snarled.

Meanwhile, Bard had gone wide-eyed from shock.

"God must hate me, or somethin'." He muttered despondently.

'**He does, son. He does.**'

'_Aw, shut up!_' Bard said inwardly. '_It was just an expression._'

'**Expression or not, it still rings with truth.**'

'_Didn't I just tell you to shut up?'_'

"Heads up!" Cyborg said. " She's coming this way!"

"Hide me!" Bard almost squealed, looking around for someplace to disappear. To his utter despair, he couldn't find any place to go. Finally, in an act of total desperation, he jerked open an empty locker and leapt into it, closing the door behind him.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Bard heard Kitten demand from his hiding place.

"We have as much a right to an education as you." Robin said.

"Hmph!" Kitten turned as if to walk away, but then she stopped. "Are you guys tracking down Jonny?"

"Jonny?" Beast Boy asked, not quite getting the connection. "Oh! You mean-"

Robin elbowed him in the ribs.

"Yes, we are." Robin declared, overdoing it a little bit. "Justice will catch up to him!"

"I have an idea!" Cyborg said with a sly grin. "When we find out where Jonny is, why don't we have Kitten here try to talk him into turning himself in!"

**CLANK!**

Bard had kicked the inside of the locker with his boot meaningfully, and Cyborg was trying his hardest not to laugh.

"What was that?" Kitten asked, looking at the locker while Bard began to sweat.

"Oh, it's just that J-"

**CLANK!**

"Er, one of my books must have fallen in there." Cyborg covered himself lamely, still grinning from ear to ear. "Maybe I should open up the locker and put it back up-"

This time, Bard didn't kick the locker. Instead, he hummed very softly instead. Suddenly, a soft, invisible wind pushed at Cyborg threateningly. The half-robot sweat dropped.

"I think it's time for us to get to class." He said quickly.

Kitten looked at him strangely, then once more at the locker, but finally she turned and walked away. When Bard judged she was gone, he literally burst out of the locker and stuck a finger in Cyborg's face.

"Don't you _ever_ do that again!"

Cyborg simply grinned down at him.

"Aw, c'mon." He defended himself lightly. "I was kiddin'! I wasn't going to let her see you!"

Bard took in a deep breath.

"Fine." He said after a moment. "Sorry for snappin' at you."

"Of course you are." Cyborg said, patting Bard's cheek insultingly. Then, laughing, he walked by him towards their first class. Bard smoldered for a minute or two, and when he turned, he found his eyes locked with his sister's.

"Now you know why I meditate so much." She said dryly. Then she turned and followed the others, leaving Bard to trail behind.


	10. Guns, Guitars And Broken Hearts

_**"Is it really that cold in here?" - Bard**_

_**CHAPTER TEN**_

_**GUNS, GUITARS, AND BROKEN HEARTS**_

Mrs. Wilson's room for English 402 was your typical classroom, Bard observed. There was a large, white mark board at the front of the class and several posters with the general theme of 'Reading is fun/educational/important' covered the walls. There were two, large windows that looked out at the parking lot and the seats, lined up perfectly width and lengthwise, were the standard chair and desk in one model. Bard walked towards the back of the classroom and reluctantly lowered himself into the seat beside Raven. Beast Boy and Cyborg sat side by side next to them, and Robin and Starfire were in parallel seats in front of them.

The first bell rang, and students began to file into the class. The Titans were forced to endure the strange, suspicious looks the kids cast at them as, one by one, they entered the room and found seats of their own. One particular unreliable looking fellow with spiky blonde hair caught Bard's eye. He wore three or four heavy chains around his neck and yellow boxers that emerged from his baggy, sagging pants. Bard had to resist the urge to go over there and hike up the pants over the guy's head. What would make him think that _anyone_ would want to see his underwear? What really irritated him, however, was the way he was lecherously gazing at Starfire.

Bard glanced over at Robin and saw that he had noticed as well. Though the Boy Wonder was usually the best at hiding his true feelings, besides perhaps for Raven, he could not hide the fact that his jaw and fists were clenched tightly.

The boy stood up and, with one hand holding up his jeans, shuffled over to where Starfire was sitting.

"Whaasup?" He asked her after looking down at her suggestively, his voice ultra calm. Starfire, of course, took him at face value. This was exactly what Bard had worried about the night before.

"Greetings, fellow student!" She said to him brightly. "Are you ready to educate yourself?"

"Educate?" The boy repeated. "The only thing I want to learn about is what's under those clothes, girl."

"That's enough!" Robin grated between his teeth, half standing up from his chair. "Leave her _alone_."

"Or what?" The boy said arrogantly. "You can't do nothin'."

You could almost hear Robin grind his teeth together. He wouldn't, couldn't, lay a finger on this boy just because he had said something, and both of them knew it. This punk was going to push as far as he could go without getting burned. Robin would wait until he absolutely _had_ to intervene so that the Titans' name wouldn't be tarnished.

Bard, on the other hand, was simply too angry to give a damn. He stood up and walked up to the thug.

"I think you oughta leave the girl alone, boy." He said as neutrally as he possibly could.

"Who the hell are-" The boy twirled to face Bard. "Oh, you. I seen you on T.V. You're that gay cowboy!"

Bard's face hardened. "Are you gonna leave her alone, or not?" He asked, ignoring the insult.

"Bard..." Robin said to him warningly. Bard glanced over at his leader, and then down at Starfire, who was looking up at him with pleading green eyes. That infuriated the cowboy all the more. Even though she, at least partially he hoped, understood what this boy wanted, she still didn't want to see him get hurt. And the guy was too stupid and ignorant to care!

'_**All**_** humans are stupid and ignorant.**'

Although he didn't reply, Bard almost agreed with his father at that particular moment.

"You ain't doin' nothin' but frontin', dawg." The boy was saying to him, his chin thrust out belligerently. "All the Titans ain't nothin' but punks!" He shoved Bard in the chest. Almost automatically, the Titan Apprentice drew back a fist...

"Bard!" Robin said sharply.

But Bard didn't punch the obnoxious fool. IF this guy wanted everyone to see his underwear, then _everyone_ would see his underwear. Instead of throwing a punch, Bard simply reached down and easily pulled the boy's baggy pants down around his ankles. The classroom erupted in laughter at the sight of the teenager standing in the middle of the room, his yellow boxers showing all that he was.

"I think those britches are too big for you." Bard commented slyly. Although he knew the act was petty, it sure did make him feel good. Besides, he had started it...

Turning red with anger and embarrassment, the teen quickly pulled up his pants and threw a wild punch at Bard, who easily ducked out of the way. Although he had only just recently started training with Robin, throwing a punch at a cowboy was never a good idea. Then, with an evil single-mindedness, Bard pulled the boy's pants down again.

"Is it really _that_ cold in here?" He asked with a chuckle, even as he turned his back on the de-panted thug and started towards his seat.

Meanwhile, the thug was almost beside himself with rage.

"I'm gonna f-"

At that exact moment, the second bell rang and Mrs. Wilson enter the room. She looked at the boy with the yellow boxers and jeans around his ankles in surprise.

"-you up!"

"Young man!" Mrs. Wilson said sharply. "I won't have you disrupting my class! I'm writing you up and sending you to the principal's office!"

Raven caught sight of Bard's smirk at that.

"Proud of yourself/" She whispered to him dryly.

"Sure am," Bard admitted without the least bit of shame.

"Men," Raven muttered under her breath.

Just then, Bard noticed that someone else had entered the classroom. He couldn't see the new arrival at first because he was sitting in the back of the class and the other students blocked his view. Whoever it was, they had to be extremely short. Robin was the first to see him.

"Gizmo!" He exclaimed.

"That's right, fartmuncher!" The bald kid in the green jumpsuit and goggles on his head said happily. He pulled out a laser pistol. "And unless you want Mrs. Wilson's quiz to pop, you'd better not move a muscle!"

"Er, quiz to pop?" Beast Boy asked, his tone confused. "Is that supposed to be a joke or somethin'? 'Cause if it was, it wasn't a very good one!"

"And that's saying a lot, coming from Beast Boy!" Cyborg laughed.

"Shut up, rustbucket!" Gizmo snapped, shoving the pistol in the teacher's face.

"..."

"That's better!" The short genius approved. Then he glanced over at the door. "C'mon in guys!"

The pink-haired witch and a massive man that seemed almost as much beast as human came into the classroom.

"I should have known Jinx and Mammoth would be here, too." Robin growled. "What do you want? How did you know we'd be here?"

"Because I'm the one that told you to come here in the first place!" Gizmo laughed.

"You forged that letter from the Mayor?" Robin demanded.

"Pssh! Obviously!"

"Dude, we have _got_ to change our address, or somethin'!" Beast Boy complained.

"So, you have us." Robin said, ignoring the changeling's comment. "What do you hope to gain out of this?"

"Money, of course!" Gizmo grinned. "What else is there? Not _everybody_ had some bigwig pay for their huge tower! We have plenty of hostages here and the Teen Titans are indisposed. Who's gonna stop us?"

Bard wished he were in a comic book. If he were, this would be the exact moment where some hero would crash through the window and save the day. But, unfortunately perhaps, this was the real world.

Jinx walked over to Robin's desk, her hips swaying seductively,

"Sorry, Robin." She said, reaching out to touch his face lightly. Then, her hand slid downward across his chest. Both he and Starfire grit their teeth. "But your luck just ran out."

With that, her hand fell upon Robin's utility belt and she ripped it from around his waist.

"I've always liked this thing." She said, mostly to herself as she put it around her own waist. Then, she glanced up and seemed to see Bard for the first time. She pranced over to him and nonchalantly reached out and took his cowboy hat. She let down her pink hair and placed it on her head.

"Now is this a fashion statement, or what?" She asked, twirling around girlishly.

"_Nobody messes with my hat!_" Bard spat out. He looked so angry that it seemed as if steam was pouring out of his ears.

"Aw," Jinx said to Raven tauntingly, casting a look at Bard. "He's cute when he's mad, don't you think?"

"...No."

"Oh, well," Jinx shrugged as she turned back to Bard. "Don't take it too hard, Cowboy. I'm pretty sure she's gay."

That _really_ pissed him off. He glanced over and locked eyes with Raven and, whether it was because of her mental powers or simply because of the bond between them, she seemed to understand the plan that had formed inside his brain.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." Raven chanted softly, even as Bard hummed a tune under his breath. Raven's powers were of the mind. She could move things with her brain and create dark illusions that would do her bidding. Bard's powers, on the other hand, were much more elemental; fire, wind and other such elements. But now they were working together.

Dark obsidian energy enveloped Gizmo's weapon and jerked it from his grasp, even as a fireball appeared in the air and disappeared with a blinding flash of light.

"What the-Ah!" Gizmo clutched at his eyes, just like his two partners in crime.

"Titans, go!" Robin brandished his staff and leapt forward. He faced off against Gizmo, who had put on his goggles and activated his backpack to lift him up on four, spider-like legs. Starfire, Beast Boy and Cyborg were working together to put down the massive Mammoth, which left Bard and Raven to fight Jinx, who had fallen to her knees and rubbing her eyes.

"I'll take that!" Bard declared, taking back his hat and replacing it on his head. Then he drew back his fist and...froze. He couldn't do it. Jinx finally cleared her eyes, saw Bard and kicked him right in the chin with one of her platform boots.

**WHAM!**

Bard crashed into the back wall of the classroom and slumped down towards the floor to fall on his butt. Raven quickly went over to him to make sure he was okay.

"Why didn't you hit her?" She demanded.

"I don't hit women." Bard mumbled, slowly getting to his feet.

"You'd better learn."

"Hyaaa!" Jinx flung a pink bolt at them. Several of the students screamed. Raven quickly levitated out of the way, but Bard was still disoriented from the earlier blow and could do nothing but close his eyes and clench himself. Slowly, he opened up his eyes again. He was...okay?

"Ha!" Bard said triumphantly to Jinx. "You missed!"

But he was wrong. The back wall of the classroom crumbled and fell forward.

"Oof!" Bard was buried in the debris, only his hand could be seen emerging from the rubble.

"Bard!" Raven yelled. She tried to go to him, but Jinx flung another pink blast at her to keep her at bay.

On the other side of the room, while the kids still sat in their desk watching numbly, Robin was acrobatically dodging Gizmo's metal arms. Finally, the boy genius thrust at him just a bit too hard and the Boy Wonder took full advantage. He flipped forward over Gizmo and his strike and, still upside down, smashed at the metal electronic on his back before landing. The metal backpack sparked, and Gizmo screamed as electricity coursed through his veins. He fell forward, still smoking, unconscious.

"Bard, Raven!" Robin called. "Get these kids out of here!"

Bard groaned as he slowly lifted himself out of the debris. He was covered in dust, and a few pieces of plaster and brick were on the brim of his hat that, surprisingly, hadn't come off. He looked up and saw that Raven and Jinx were trading black and pink blasts, even as Mammoth picked up the teacher's desk and slung it across the room, putting down Cyborg and Starfire. Though it had certainly hurt, Bard knew that the two teenage heroes would be okay. But what if that had happened to one of these kids? Bard noticed a window, and plan formed in his brain.

"Beast Boy!" He called, pointing at the outer wall. "I need a door!"

Beast Boy disentangled himself from the fight with Mammoth and came over to the wall. He transformed into an elephant and plowed through it, trumpeting his trunk.

"Everybody out!" Bard barked, pushing the kids towards the huge wall that lead outside, even as Beast Boy went back to elf form to help with Mammoth. "Now!"

As soon as Bard finished ushering the students out to relative safety, he turned...and bumped right into Mammoth. Before he knew it, the giant had wrapped a huge hand around his throat and slung him across the room. Upside down, Bard erupted through the wall and landed hard out in the hallway before skidding to a stop.

The pain was unbelievable; it was so violent that it seemed like it was all that Bard had ever known. He began to cough weakly, and that made him hurt all the more.

'**Didn't you know, son? The good live out their lives in perpetual pain while the wicked have all the fun!**'

'_Shut...up...'_

Bard tried to climb to his feet, but the pain was too much. He slumped back down to the floor. He turned his head and caught sight of his hat. Tiredly, and very slowly, he reached out and put it back on his head. Then, he heard a sudden, light footfall beside his head. Apprehensively, he looked up.

It was...Kitten? But this wasn't the Kitten he knew. Her blonde hair was pulled back severely in a ponytail and a red bandana on her forehead kept it out of her face. She wore a tight, black vest, loose, baggy pants of the same color and combat boots. It was obvious she was stripped for battle. What Bard noticed the most, however, was the hard look in her eyes and the hi-tech rifle she was pointing down at him.

"I should have known you were a Titan." She said flatly to him, the gun never wavering. "You pulled me along and broke my heart! Was that supposed to be some kind of sick joke?"

"..."

"Was it?" She jabbed the gun at his face.

"Of course not!" Bard objected, deciding to try guile. "My feelings for you were real, but with me being a Titan, it could've never worked out...I'm sorry."

"Really?"

"Of course!"

Kitten's face softened and she reached down to gingerly touch Bard's face. Then, she slapped him hard right in the mouth.

"That was pathetic!" Kitten said angrily. "Do you think I'm that stupid?"

"..." Bard prudently chose not to answer that.

"Are all men as sick and cruel as you?" Kitten asked him intensely, her eyes dangerous.

"I don't know, are all women as bitchy as you?" Bard knew that was a big Titan 'no-no', but to Hell with it. Besides, it wasn't like he expected to live for very much longer anyways. He was half-right.

"Ahhhhhh!" Kitten screamed, and pulled the rifle's trigger.

_'I hope God has a guitar.' _Was that last thing Bard thought before he succumbed to the darkness.

"Will Friend Bard be all right?" Starfire asked worriedly, gazing down at his still form They had returned to Titans Tower and immediately put the cowboy to bed.

"I'm sure he will be, Star." Robin assured her. "He just took a hard hit. All he needs is some rest."

Though he was still asleep, Bard began to roll his head back and forth as if he were having a bad dream.

"...Amber!..." And then he woke up. He blinked a few times, and then narrowed his eyes. "Heaven looks suspiciously like Titans Tower." He commented.

"Are you all right?" Starfire and Raven asked him at almost the same time.

Bard blinked again. "It sure is nice to be loved."

"..."

"Of course you are loved! We are your friends!"

"Thank you," Bard said, and then he turned to Robin. "What happened?"

"We were able to bring in Mammoth and Gizmo, but Jinx got away." Robin reported.

"What about Kitten?" Bard asked.

"Uh, you sure you feelin' okay?"

"No," Bard shook his head emphatically. "She was there during the fight! How do you think I got knocked out?"

"Dude, Mammoth _did_ kinda throw you through a wall, ya know." Beast Boy suggested.

"Which brings me to a very important question." Bard said. "I've watched tapes of you all, and you get throw through stuff all the time! Er, no offense! What I'm getting at is that you always shake your head to clear the cobwebs and get right back up. How do ya do that?"

"We all wear body armor." Robin explained. "Except for Starfire and Raven, of course. Starfire had superhuman endurance, and Raven can provide her own shields."

Bard smirked ruefully.

"Wouldn't have been better to tell me this _before_ I got slung through a wall like a torpedo?"

"Sorry!" Robin defended himself. "You have similar powers to Raven's, so I thought you could make your own shields! How 'bout I make you some body armor?"

"That would be nice." Bard agreed. "Could you put it in a black trench coat?"

"I guess I could, but why?"

"Because trench coats are cool! Haven't you ever seen 'The Matrix'?"

"All right." Robin conceded, shaking his head and smiling. "Well, we better let you rest. C'mon guys."

He led the others out of Bard's room, but Raven stayed behind. She walked over to the window and looked out over the ocean.

"So," she said finally, not turning around. "Who's Amber?"

"Who?"

"Amber," Raven repeated. "You said her name in your sleep."

"Must have been a weird dream, then." Bard shrugged. "I don't know anybody called Amber."

Raven turned to face him.

"You're lying?" It didn't exactly come out as a question.

"Yes, I am." Bard sighed, looking away.

"Lost love?" Raven asked.

Bard's blue eyes seemed to be a million miles away as he gazed up at the ceiling.

"Something like that," he murmured. "I'd rather not talk about it."

Raven nodded. She, above anyone else in the tower with the possible exception of Robin, respected other people's privacy.

"Need anything?" She asked as she turned to leave.

"You wouldn't hand me my guitar, would you?" Bard asked, pointing to where the instrument stood in the corner. Raven brought it to him and left quietly.

Bard idly ran his fingers over the strings of his guitar. For some reason, he wasn't dead. Maybe Kitten had missed and he had simply fainted. Or maybe the gun had been set on 'stun' or something. He didn't know, but his near brush with death had created feelings insides him, and he spent the next hour or so putting them into a song. Finally, he sang the final product:

_Sometimes I'm afraid of dyin'_

_'Cause I'm not quite sure where I'll go_

_Heaven, I know, is salvation_

_But the flames of Hell seem so close..._

_I hope that God has a guitar_

_Up there in his heavenly home_

_And I hope there are honky-tonks and mountains_

_For a cowboy like me to roam_

_I never could wear a halo_

_More often I wear the twin horns_

_But I hope that God can see past that_

_When I am finally reborn_

_And I hope that God has a guitar_

_Up there in his heavenly home_

_And I hope there are honky-tonks and mountains_

_For a cowboy like me to roam_

_And I hope that God like good music_

_And Hank's still yodelin' the blues_

_Waylon is singing 'Amanda'_

_And Johnny's still a boy named Sue_

_And I hope that God has a guitar_

_Up there in his heavenly home_

_And I hope there are honky-tonks and mountains_

_For a cowboy like me to roam_


	11. Proposal

_"There won't be any sunsets for us." - Slade_

_**CHAPTER ELEVEN**_

_**PROPOSAL**_

_Journal,_

_This is my very first entry, so I guess I oughta introduce myself. My name is Jonny. Or perhaps I should say Bard? I've recently been made an apprentice to the superhero team of the Teen Titans, and, only after a few battles, I've learned that life is fleeting. Everyday these teenagers go out and face super powered criminals that would kill them without a second thought. For some of them, that is their greatest goal. But still the Titans fight. And not only do they continue the struggle but, more amazing to me, they somehow find the time to be normal, even with death constantly knocking at their door._

_Robin is our leader. Out of all of the Titans, he strikes me as the most mysterious. All I really know about him, and this probably rings true for the rest of the Titans as well, is that he was trained and once worked with Batman in Gotham City and that he loves his teammates as if they were his only family. And I suspect we probably are. I think that's the way he wants to keep it. He's easily the most skilled of us all. He __**was**__ trained by Batman, after all. And speaking of training, the Boy Wonder trains all the time. Most people see their bodies as just that: bodies. But I think Robin sees his as a tool that must be finely tuned to perfection._

_What else...? Oh! And I'm fairly sure that he's in love with Starfire. (God, I hope no one ever reads this!) The emotion is there between them. Even the most dense of people can feel it. I think it's just a matter of which one opens their heart to the other first._

_Ahem..._

_Cyborg is our heavy hitter. He is probably the strongest of us. Starfire may be able to give him a run for his money, but we will never know. Starfire is far too kindhearted to win or even initiate a contest of strength with the half robot. But back to Cyborg. I sense an anger inside him. He is angry at something or someone, but I will never know what. Some questions are better left unanswered. Speaking of questions, Raven asked me an unsettling one yesterday, but I digress. We'll get to it...all in good time._

_Like I was saying, Cyborg has anger pent up inside him. In different circumstances, he would be a giant threat to humanity. But his heart is good, and so he decides to let it out on the battlefield against evil. The guy is smart, I'm sure, but I think he hides it from us with a little show of immaturity. Why, I don't know. My best guess, though, would be that he doesn't want Beast Boy, obviously his best friend, to feel inferior to him. No matter what anyone says, relationships can't survive without these little secrets, be it friendship or marriage._

_Since I've mentioned him anyway, let's move on to Beast Boy: He is __**obviously**__ the jokester of the group. The little brother, if you will. Sometimes annoying, (As Raven will attest), but Titans Tower would be infinitely times grimmer without him. From what I gather, he's also the youngest of the group, and sometimes it shows. He appears insecure sometimes, as if he is still trying to find his role in life, or maybe just his better half. I can certainly relate to both of those._

_Raven, who I recently found out was my sister, is the darkest of our group, though it is not by conscious choice. Most would see her as the most mysterious in the tower, but I do not. It's actually kind of scary. I've only been here for a few days, and I already know her better than anyone else. (Raven would kill me if she knew I was writing the following down, so let's hope she doesn't find out.) Lucifer, Satan, whatever you want to call him, is Raven's father. Unfortunately, he is mine as well. Because of this, Raven has incredible telekinetic powers. But the drawback is worse than the prize. Trigon, the named he prefers to go by for some reason, is always inside Raven's head, begging to be free. He come at her through her emotions and, if she does not restrain them, there-will-be-Hell-on-Earth. Talk about pressure... Can you blame her for being reclusive?_

_Starfire is the exact opposite of Raven, and that is not meant to be an insult to either side. While Raven is dark, Starfire shines with a kind of exultant, bright light. She is the kindest, most optimistic person I have ever met and ever will meet. Maybe it's because she is an alien, but there is an innocence about her; a childlike innocence that sees everything this planet has to offer as a wonder. I could almost love her, if she were not so obviously destined to be with Robin. Hell, I might just love her anyway...Ahem._

_**God I hope no one ever reads this...**_

_I won't tell you my entire life story, but I'll go over the basics. There are some painful memories I'd rather leave buried. Until a few days ago, I never knew my father and had no siblings. My mother, I cannot even remember her face, died when I was very young and I lived most of my life in an orphanage. I spent most of my time with my only possession besides the clothes on my back: The guitar that had been my grandfather's, on my mother's side, of course. I taught myself to play by listening to local country music stations on a cheap radio I had bought by doing odd jobs. Later on, I saved to buy a keyboard and learned to play it as well._

_By then, I had dreams of going to Nashville and becoming a huge star. That was all I wanted, just to stand on a stage just'a pickin' and grinnin'! But to do that, I needed money and the odd jobs I performed to get by just weren't cutting it. And so, though I'm not proud to admit it, I joined a local gang. I won't go into that in detail. Soon after, I discovered I had superpowers. I could control the elements! I knew I could use them to get the money I needed, but I refused. Petty theft was one thing, but that would have been quite another. And so, I 'acquired' a motorcycle, (I didn't __**exactly**__ steal it, but it's a long story), and headed to Jump City. I knew my Nashville dream was dead, even if it still tries to raise itself from the grave every once in while. My true calling was to help people; to be a superhero. Talk about irony..._

_I arrived at Titans Tower and they accepted me as an apprentice after I demonstrated my powers. Then, I found out some rather distressing news. Raven was my sister, (That wasn't the bad part), and that my father was none other than the devil himself. (__**That**__ would be the bad part) Not the best news to receive when you're a Christian, let me tell you._

_I should bring this to an end, so let me be brief. Kitten, a young criminal who is the daughter of another named Killer Moth, has had some __**serious**__ issues with me and my father has started to taunt me. Not the best two things in the world, but I think it's more than an even trade for the friends I've made and the righteous life I live now._

_Oh, and as for Raven's question...well, let's just forget it._

_And so, until next time:_

_I remain,_

_Bard_

Bard put down his pen, closed his notebook and tucked them away in the drawer beside his bed. Then, after a quick glance out of his bedroom window at the morning sun, he left his room to find some breakfast. As always, Cyborg and Beast Boy were the first one's out and about. Instead of playing video games, however, the two were arguing in the kitchen.

"No way, BB!" Cyborg was yelling. "I am not having those tofu waffles and tofu eggs! I want bacon! Hot, greasy bacon and _real_ milk! Not that fake crap you drink!"

Bard blinked.

"You drink fake milk?" He asked Beast Boy, walking up to them. "You don't have to kill the cow to get milk, do you? So what's the point in not drinking it?"

"They aren't killed, but they _are_ held in containment against their will." Beast Boy told him. "How would you like it if someone penned you up in a field?"

"Not very much," Bard admitted. "But cows don't have wills. They're animals."

"So am I!" Beast Boy said. "Hello! The first part of my name is 'Beast', ya know!"

"So?" Bard shrugged. "Just because you can turn into animals don't make you one. You're human. They don't have souls, and you do."

"How do you know that?" Beast Boy asked.

"It's in the Bible." Bard explained.

"Oh," Beast Boy said, a bit crestfallen. "Still though, I don't agree with it!"

"That's you're right."

"Darn tootin' it's my right!" Beast Boy exclaimed, putting his hands on his hips.

Bard chuckled.

"I hate to interrupt this philosophical conversation..." Cyborg drawled sarcastically. "But I am _still_ not eating that tofu stuff!"

"C'mon, you know you love it!"

"Yeah, 'bout as much as I love Starfire's pudding!"

"What don't you just do both?" Bard suggested to them. "Beast Boy can make his tofu waffles and you can fry up some bacon."

"What are we gonna drink?" Cyborg demanded.

Bard shrugged.

"I don't know...orange juice?"

The two thought about it.

"It could work." Beast Boy commented.

Cyborg grunted.

"We'll try it." He said begrudgingly.

"Everybody is _so_ gonna like my waffles way better than your bacon." Beast Boy said to Cyborg.

"Yeah right." Cyborg shot back mockingly at his green friend. "They'll be _begging_ Starfire to make her pudding once they've tasted those pieces of cardboard you _call_ waffles!"

"I hope you're ready to eat those words!"

"At least they'll be better than your waffles."

"Hmph."

The two friends shuffled around the kitchen and began to cook and Bard turned to walk over to the living room to get out of their way when Raven made her appearance. Her hood was down, and she turned her dark, purple eyes to stare at Cyborg and Beast Boy.

"Cyborg and Beast Boy are in the kitchen and they aren't arguing." She commented stoically. Then she turned to Bard. "What did you do to them?"

"Nothing!" Bard said quickly, holding up his hands innocently.

Raven simply nodded, turned and sat on her familiar futon couch. Strangely, she didn't have a book this morning to bury herself in. After a moment, Bard chose to sit down beside her.

"How are you feeling?" She asked him slowly, as if regular conversation was alien to her. Bard shrugged, trying to make her feel more at ease.

"Not bad." He said. "My ribs are still bruised a bit, though. They'll feel a lot better once Robin finishes my body armor."

"He was working on it yesterday while your were still in bed." Raven told him. "He should be done with it soon. I think he's making the cloth of the coat out of polymerized titanium."

"Er, poly-what?"

"It's what Robin's cape is made out of." Raven explained. "It's fireproof."

"He sure is going all out, isn't he?" Bard asked.

"That's the way he is." Raven nodded slightly.

**DING! DONG!**

"Dude, deja vu again!" Beast Boy called from the kitchen, but then he paused. "Wait a minute, would that make it _double_ deja vu? Or maybe deja vu _vu_?"

Bard shook head tolerantly with a small smile.

"I'll get it." He said.

When Bard arrived at the bottom floor, he saw that there was no one there. He opened the door and looked around. Still no one. But on the ground was thick, brown paper envelope. He picked it up and read the outer covering.

'To: Bard From: Slade'

Bard frowned. He had heard the name Slade somewhere, but he couldn't quite recall where...

"I got a package." Bard announced when he arrived back in the main room.

"What's up with that?" Beast Boy demanded. "He's only been here a few days and he _already_ had a secret admirer!"

"I've been admired enough already since I've gotten out here." Bard said a little pointedly. "Besides, I don't think that's the case. It's from some guy named Slade."

"..."

All three of them, Beast Boy, Cyborg and Raven, turned to stare at him.

"Uh, I take it you know the guy?"

"You don't know who Slade is?" Cyborg asked incredulously. "He's only the most notorious villain in the city!"

"I'm from the southeast." Bard pointed out. "I lived about three thousand miles away from here until recently."

"We better call Robin and Starfire up here." Raven suggested to them.

Cyborg nodded and whipped out his communicator and quickly filled the two in.

Robin arrived in a surprisingly short amount of time with Starfire trailing along behind him.

"Where is it?" He demanded breathlessly.

"Right here, man." Cyborg held up the package.

"Did you check it?"

"Yep," Cyborg nodded. "It's safe."

"Let's open it, then." He took the package from his friend and looked over it cautiously.

"I can open it, Robin." Bard said.

Robin shook his head fiercely.

"No," he said firmly. "It might be trap."

Bard shrugged.

"Suit yourself,"

Carefully, Robin opened up the brown envelope. Slowly, he reached inside and took something out.

"A tape?" He asked confusedly, holding up the black video cassette. "Why would he send us a tape?"

"We won't know 'til we pop it in and watch it." Cyborg suggested.

"Should I go get the popcorn?" Beast Boy joked.

"..."

"Sheesh! Sorry for existing!"

Robin, ignoring that, nodded at Cyborg. He put the tape into the VCR, picked up the remote and turned on the giant television. All of their eyes were glued to the screen. The masked form of Slade appeared, wearing his customary brown and black.

"_Greetings, Titans._" The onscreen Slade said_. "It's been a long time, hasn't it? You've been well, I trust? But enough of this idle banter, let me get to the point. This transmission is for Jonny's, excuse me, Bard's eyes only." _He paused dramatically. "_Unless, of course, you have no secrets Bard. If you have led an entirely righteous life, and no doubt that the Titans believe that you have, then there should be no reason for them to leave, correct? Perhaps you should take a moment to talk it over..."_

Bard picked up the remote and pressed the 'pause' button. Everyone stared expectantly at him.

"Maybe you _should_ leave." He murmured to them finally.

"We can't do that." Robin told him.

"...Then, Raven can stay with me." Bard conceded. "If there is anything on this tape that you need to know about, she can tell you."

Robin's brow furrowed as he mulled over the proposal. He looked past Bard and stared intensely at the frozen figure of Slade as he thought.

"All right," Robin decided after a long moment, though he didn't sound too happy. "Raven, you stay here. Everybody else, let's leave them alone." With that, he led them out of the room. When they were gone, Bard and Raven sat on the main couch and resumed the video.

"_Well, Bard, are we alone? I trust that we are." _Another pause. _"It's been a long time, hasn't it old friend? How long has it been? Two years? My, how the time flies by... You were a part of my very first organization, and very good one at that. You were one of my best, but you decided to leave when you discovered your powers. How I wish I would have known then! You could have been my very first apprentice."_

_"But then again, you would have never unleashed your power if it hadn't been for that pretty young girl. What was her name again? Amber?" _Slade let out a dusty laugh. _"But enough taunting. I sent this to give you a proposal, which is simply this: I want you to work for me again. With your newfound talents, we would be quite a powerful team. Just to show my good intentions, I decided to show you this."_

The screen filled with snowy static. When it came back in, the quality was much poorer. It looked like a home video. There was a woman there, sitting on a blanket in a grassy field somewhere. She was a young, pretty girl, and no more than twenty years old. She had long, blond hair and pale white skin. She smiled into the camera. Bard somehow felt that he should know her.

'**Ah, the memories...'**

Bard gasped.

"What is it?" Raven asked, trying to figure out why Slade would send Bard something like this.

"It's..." Bard choked on it. "M-my mother!"

Whoever was holding the camera swiveled, and the screen showed a concert stage. A country band was playing, but there was no sound. The lead singer was in front, holding a guitar that Bard recognized instantly. He jerked his eyes up to the singer's face. He was a skinny, deeply tanned man with a wrinkled face and black hair under a cowboy hat of the same color. And his eyes...they were exactly the same color blue as Bard's.

As fast as he could, Bard quickly thrust his hand into his back pocket and dug out his black, leather wallet. He quickly flipped it open and, sure enough, the front picture in it matched the man on screen. It was his grandfather! The screen turned snowy again. Then, Slade reappeared.

"_I hope you enjoyed the show. Think over my offer. I'll contact you soon and we can meet again, face to face." _He smiled evilly. _"Hopefully, 'There won't be any sunsets for us.'" _And then he was gone.

Bard stood up quickly, his face filled with fury. He held open his palm and, even as bright sparks flew around his form, a white, blazing fireball coalesced in his hand. Then, with a shout of pure hate, he turned and flung it with a crash through the nearest window. Just before it fell into the water, it exploded in a sphere of pure destruction. But Bard didn't even notice. He had collapsed to his knees.

"Bard!" Raven said, standing up and looking down at him worriedly. But Bard barely heard her.

'_I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not-'_

But it was too late. The salty, stinging tears had already escaped the prison of his eyes.

'**Weak...'**

Bard could do nothing but agree.


	12. Love, Past And Present

_**"It was good. If it was great, she'd be with you on that bed right now and you sure as hell wouldn't be talkin' to me." - Tim**_

_**CHAPTER TWELVE**_

_**LOVE, PAST AND PRESENT**_

The fifteen year old Jonny stood in front of the mirror in the community bathroom of the orphanage. He was dressed in his best clothes and had probably dabbed just a bit too much cologne on himself. Now he was carefully brushing his hair, making absolutely sure that every single brown strand of it was perfectly in place. Tim, a fellow orphan just a year or so younger than Jonny, walked in and saw his friend.

"What's the holiday?" The big, pale skinned teen asked Jonny bluntly. "Looks like you'd lick yourself all over if ya could!"

"I've got a date." Jonny answered him without turning around, his brush still hard at work. His hair was much, much short then. The sides were closely shaved and the short hair on top was pushed forward.

"Dude, for real? Cool!" Tim said. "So, is she hot or what? C'mon, fill me in, man!"

"Is she hot?" Jonny asked with mock disbelief. "I _am _the one going out with her, ain't I?"

"Oh," Tim commented, nodding as if he understood perfectly. "So she's a four hundred pound Muslim girl, huh?"

"..." Jonny turned and glared at him.

"C'mon, Jon! It was just a joke!" Tim laughed.

"Jonny," he said, his voice a little irritated. "My name is 'Jonny', not 'Jon'."

"So?" Tim shrugged. "They're about the same thing, aren't they? Ain't your whole name 'Jonathon', anyway? 'Jon' is a part of that name, right? I don't hear any 'ny's in there, do you? Besides, I'm too lazy to say a two syllable name all the time."

Jonny shook his head, giving up. Tim would always be Tim, no matter what. He was truly one of a kind.

"Just for that, I'm not gonna introduce you to her sister." Maybe there was a way for him to get some retribution.

"I was just jokin'!" Tim said a little desperately. "I didn't mean nothin' by it! You know that! C'mon, you gotta hook me up!"

Jonny put on a great show of dubiousness.

"I don't know..." He said, trying not to smile. "I think she's outta your league anyway. She is _fiery hot!_"

"C'mon, man!" Tim implored, practically on his knees now. "Hook a brother up!"

"...Tim, I can't believe you just said that." Jonny looked pointedly at his friend's pale skin. "You are the whitest person I know."

"But you're still gonna hook me up, right?"

"...I don't think so."

Tim's face of utter despair was so comical that Jonny couldn't contain his laugh.

"What?" Tim asked. "What's so funny?"

"Hahah I don't hahahahhah even know hahahahah if she has hahahahah a sister!"

"You can't be playin' with my emotions like that, man!" Tim almost wailed. "I ought to whip yo' ass for that!"

Jonny simply laughed harder.

"Pssh! No good little..." Tim murmured sourly, but then his face brightened. "But you are gonna ask her, right?"

"Ask her what?"

"If she has a sister, man!"

"I guess I could." Jonny told him.

"Good!" Tim said happily. "'Cause it just ain't right that you're getting play and I ain't!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jonny asked, laying down his brush and putting on his cheap, felt cowboy hat. "We both know that I'm handsomer, sexier _and _smarter than you are!" He added cockily.

"Pssh! You wish!" Tim exclaimed loudly. "I am _dead sexy, baby!_" He swiveled his hips grotesquely.

"Don't _ever_ do that again!"

"You're just scared that your homosexual tendencies might come out." Tim joked, but then he paused. "Hey, you do have protection, right?"

"This is all the protection I need." Bard shrugged, holding up a fist.

Tim sweat dropped. "That not what I meant." He said. "I meant _sexual_ protection."

Jonny blinked.

"This is only the first date, man."

"Don't you know anything?" Tim said exasperatedly. "Girls these days are _easy!_"

"Not the good ones." Jonny contradicted.

"What are you talkin' about? The easy ones _are _the good ones!"

"It's not like that." Jonny said. "We're just going out on a date."

"Pssh! What do you think dates are for?" Timmy asked. "Don't you know that they're just opportunities to get the other person in bed?"

"I'm not datin' her to get her into bed. I'm datin' her because I like being with her!"

"Dude, I know that's the kind of thing you'd tell a chick, but c'mon. We're both guys. You can tell me the truth."

Jonny shook his head incredulously.

"But I _am_ tellin' the truth!" He insisted.

"Yeah, I bet." Tim said sarcastically.

"Whatever man, I gotta go."

"Hey! Don't forget to ask her about a sister. Or even a friend!"

"I won't," Bard assured him, heading for the door.

"Jon! What's her name, anyway?"

"Amber," Jonny told him, just before he slipped out the door

Bard had been alone in his room for hours. He sat on the edge of his bed with his elbows on his knees and his face buried in his hands. He was sick and tired and...just empty. He had quickly ran out of tears and had sunk into a profound melancholia. Slade's words kept running through his mind, bouncing off one side of his head and rocketing back across it again.

_"It's been a long time, hasn't it old friend?_

"_Unless, of course, you have no secrets Bard. If you have led an entirely righteous life, and no doubt that the Titans believe that you have, then there should be no reason for them to leave, correct?"_

_"You were a part of my very first organization, and a very good one at that. You were one of my best, but you decided to leave when you discovered your powers. How I wish I would have known then! You could have been my very first apprentice."_

_"But then again, you would have never unleashed your power if it hadn't been for that pretty young girl. What was her name again? Amber?"_

Bard's hands clenched into a fists against his cheeks.

"_With your newfound talents, we would be quite a powerful team."_

"_I hope you enjoyed the show. Think over my offer."_

_"Hopefully, 'There won't be any sunsets for us.'"_

That last one was the one thing that pissed Bard off the most. That was what he used to say to _her_. Amber. But now...

Bard shook his head angrily. There was no reason to think about the past. He had to figure out what to do now in the present.

Slade obviously did not want him as an apprentice, as he had said. He would have known that taunting him with - _that name_ - would have forever closed that option, even if it ever really was one. So he had meant to accomplish something else. But what? To create dissension between him and the Titans by bringing up their past connection? But Slade sounded absolutely confident that he had watched the tape alone. He had no idea that he would let Raven stay and see as well, or even tell the other Titans about it at all.

Bard sighed. The only other theory was that Slade wanted to see him face to face alone. But why? Maybe it was a trap? But Bard knew he wasn't really _that_ threatening. He had helped put down Killer Moth, but there was no way for Slade to know that. Besides, they had surprised him and outnumbered him. It wasn't really something to brag about. And in the fight against the Hive yesterday morning he had been on his back more than anything. Bard winced as he remembered being slung like a rag doll through the wall of the school by Mammoth.

So, what did that leave? He had delivered a low blow to Control Freak, but- Bard stopped as the realization hit him. That low blow wasn't the only thing he had done in that fight against the power hungry nerd. He had also almost released _him_. He had transformed into something that Slade must have thought was very powerful before he finally controlled himself. But...did Slade know that the power he had wielded then wasn't his own?

Of course not. There was no way for the villain to know about his father. The only possible explanation for Slade's action, in Bard's mind, was to lure him into a trap. But now that Bard knew that, maybe he could spring the ambush around on the ambushee! Bard blinked. Was 'ambushee' a word? Whatever, he knew what he had to do. He wiped his face and pulled himself together before leaving his room.

When Bard walked into the main room, he saw that the Titans were sitting together around the kitchen table. He quickly walked over to them.

"Everybody here?" He asked, rubbing his hands together like a man getting ready to pick up a heavy load. "Good. Raven, how much did you tell them about Slade's tape?"

"...Only that it contained a home movie of your mother and a old man having a concert." She told him slowly, searching his face to make sure she hadn't let out anything he might think was inappropriate. Bard was thankful to her for that, but he had other things on him mind at the moment.

"That was my grandfather." Bard said. "But we can talk about that later. Now, on to business. Also on that tape, Slade asked me to be his next apprentice and told me that he would send me info on where to meet him face to face in a couple of days."

Cyborg whistled and the others, except Raven, of course, showed similar signs of amazement.

"But I don't think that what he really wants." Bard continued. "He was taunting me with-, well, he was taunting me, and you don't usually taunt someone you want to recruit, right? He was pretty clear about wanting to meet me alone, so I figure he wants to get rid of the new guy before he even has a chance to become a real Titan."

"A trap?" Starfire gasped.

Bard nodded and tried to smile at her, but it came out much grimmer than he meant it to.

"That would be my best guess." He told her and then looked at the rest of the group. "_But_, now that we know what he's planning, maybe we can turn the trap around on him. He's expecting me to come alone, but if five Titans are hiding in the shadows...well, I think you get my point."

Beast Boy suddenly burst out laughing.

"What so funny?" Bard demanded.

"Dude, I don't think we need Robin anymore." The green changeling snickered between his high pitched cackles. "Bard's only been here for a few days and he's already calling the shots!"

"Sorry, man!" Bard apologized to Robin immediately. "I didn't mean to step on your toes or anything, I just-"

"It's all right, Bard." Robin assured him. Then the white slits of his eye mask narrowed shrewdly. "You've done this before, haven't you?"

"Uh, done what?"

"Been a leader," Robin collaborated. "It's obvious."

"Yeah, I was for a while." Bard admitted. "Back home, but I'd rather not talk about it."

"Ooooo!" Beast Boy said mockingly, waving his hands as if he were a sorcerer casting a spell. "Bard's being all mysterious!"

"He has a right to his privacy, Beast Boy." Robin told him, then he turned back to Bard. "Now, how exactly did you want to turn this ambush around on Slade?" He asked.

"Well, I don't know where he'll want to meet, so we can't plan it all right now." Bard said, thinking. "But we _can_ go over the basics. This is what I was thinking..."

Tim was still awake that night when Jonny returned back home to the orphanage from his date. It was well past midnight. He sat down on his bed quietly and began to take off his boots and hat.

"So, how much trouble am I in?" He finally asked Tim.

"Trouble?" Tim repeated. "You know I got your back, man. I covered for ya."

"Thanks, Tim." Jonny said gratefully.

"No problem," Tim told him. "You can thank me by giving me some details. How did it go?"

Jonny grinned.

"It was great!"

"No," Tim contradicted. "It was good. If it was great, she'd be with you on that bed right now and you sure as hell wouldn't be talkin' to me." He paused. "Unless, of course, you went to _her_ place!"

Bard shook his head, smiling. Tim sure did have a one track mind.

"We didn't do anything like that." He said. "All we really did was go see a movie."

"What'd you see?"

"Uh..."

Tim laughed quietly, glancing at the other sleeping orphans.

"If you don't even remember what movie you went to go see, you must have had _some_ fun!"

Bard tried desperately to hide his furious blush, but Tim saw right through the attempt.

"All right, all right," Tim said. "What did you do _after_ the make-out session?"

Bard blushed even harder.

"Ahem," he cleared his throat. "We just walked around town for a while. Just talkin'."

"Yeah, right." Tim scoffed. "You left at seven. The movie probably ended around ten at the latest. It's..." Tim turned and looked at the clock. "One thirty now. Are you trying to tell me you just _talked_ for three and a half hours? You _did_ go to her place, didn't you?"

"Of course not, man!" Bard defended himself a little shrilly. It came out a bit louder than he had meant it to. He glanced apprehensively at the other sleeping kids, but none of them had awakened. "Nothing like that happened." He continued more quietly. "I promise."

"Okay, okay, I believe you." Tim said. Then he grinned viciously. "You wouldn't know what to do with her, anyway."

"What?" Bard's eyes widened indignantly. "What would _you_ know about the subject? You're only fourteen years old!"

"Pssh, I've been with tons of women."

"I bet,"

"I have!" Tim protested.

"All right, I believe you."

"No you don't, you're just saying that!"

"I know," Bard grinned. But then he paused thoughtfully. "I think she's the one." He confided seriously.

"The one?" Tim repeated. "You mean you're in love with her?"

Bard nodded.

"_God_, you get whipped _way_ too easily!" Tim told him. "C'mon man, you're only fifteen years old and you've only been out with her once. You don't even know what love is!"

"Amber taught me what it is tonight."

"Pssh! Shut up and go to bed, Jon." Tim said, whacking him over the head with a pillow. "Maybe when you wake up, your damn head will be screwed on straight."

"I doubt it." Jonny grinned, but then he turned around, made himself comfortable and started to go to sleep.

"Thank you, God." He prayed under his breath.

And then the Sandman claimed him.

The next few days were quiet for Bard in Titans Tower, and Sunday morning almost snuck up on him.

"Friend Bard, it is time to wake up! Bard?"

Bard tiredly opened his eyes and saw-nothing. Everything was a huge blur. He reached his hand over to take his glasses off his bedside drawer. He slipped them on, looked up and...saw Starfire leaning down over him, those soft, green eyes brightening now that he was awake. Bard couldn't help but smile.

'**I could get used to this.'**

_'Yeah, me too." _But then Bard realized exactly who he was talking to. _'Shut up!'_

'**Hehehehehehe,'**

Bard sat up and leaned his back against the back of the bed frame. He was shirtless, as he always was when he slept, and for some reason, with Starfire here in his room, that fact made him slightly nervous.

"Good mornin', Star."

"Happy morning, Bard!" Starfire replied, as cheerful as always. "Today is the day you have named after the sun!"

Bard blinked. 'Today is the day you have name after the sun'? Then it hit him.

"Oh!" He said. "Right, right." He glanced over at his alarm clock. It read '6:00 am'. Wow, Starfire _really_ wanted to do this church thing.

"Don't you think it's a little early to be getting ready?" Bard asked her gently.

"But I do not wish to be late!"

"I don't think we'll have to worry about that." Bard smiled at her. He pushed the covers off of his legs, swiveled and stood up. He was wearing a pair of gym shorts.

"Maybe I should go and allow you to get dressed." Starfire said with a rosy blush. She retreated out of his room quickly and Bard laughed quietly. Sometimes Starfire seemed so innocent that he wasn't even sure that she had normal teenage thoughts. But the current events proved that she did, and that made Bard feel good, for some reason.

Shaking his head as if to dispel those thought, he began to get dressed. He pulled on his black jeans and a red, button up shirt. And, of course, his black boots and cowboy hat.

Starfire was the first thing Bard saw when he went into the main room, and he couldn't take his eyes off of her. She was dressed in the flowered dress they had bought almost a week ago at the mall. She wore a necklace of white pearls around her delicate neck and she had on a pair of white, high heeled shoes. Bard though she looked like an absolute angel.

"Wow, Star." He finally said to her after he caught his breath. His blue eyes were glued to her form. "You look-" Bard struggled for the word. "Uh, nice." He finally chose lamely.

"Thank you, Bard." Starfire said, beaming. "You look quite nice as well."

"Thanks," Bard grinned. After a few moments, he realized he was still staring at her. "Uh, how 'bout we get some breakfast."

"A marvelous idea!" Starfire approved. "What would you like me to make? The Tammaran pudding of rejoicing seems appropriate..."

"Uh, how about we go out to eat?" Bard suggested. He had never had any of Starfire's puddings, but he _had_ heard Cyborg and Beast Boy talk about them.

"All right, Bard." Starfire agreed, and the two of them got into the elevator and descended to the garage.

Back in the main room, Cyborg and Beast Boy stood up from where they had been hiding behind the counter in the kitchen.

"Tune in next time for 'The Young and the Love Struck'." He said, trying to make his voice deep and profound. "Where the jealous Robin finds his fiancée in the arms of one of his closest friends!"

"C'mon, BB." Cyborg said admonishingly. "You know it ain't like that."

"Pssh! Whatever, Cy!" Beast Boy said. "Did you _see_ the way Bard was looking at her?"

"He's just probably not used to seeing her in anything 'cept her fightin' uniform." Cyborg explained weakly.

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that." Beast Boy told him. "I know what I saw, and Bard is in _Loooovvveeeee!"_

"Yeah, well, you keep it to yourself." Cyborg ordered him. "We're just about to bust Slade, and we don't need this...drama to complicate things. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it."

"Good! Now, you ready for me to kick your butt in 'Smackdown Superheroes'?"

"Thems sounds like fightin' words." Beast Boy said, squinting his eyes in a fairly bad Clint Eastwood impression. "Do you feel lucky, punk?"

Laughing, the two of them went to play their game, even as, back in the garage, Bard was helping Starfire onto the motorcycle behind him.

'**That's right, babe. Scooch up against me as much as you want!'**

**'**_Shut up,' _Bard told his father as they rocketed away. But deep inside him, Bard couldn't help but agree. This was getting to be an annoying habit...


	13. Faith, Luck And Love

_"The road God set for me led me to you." - Bard_

_**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**_

_**FAITH, LUCK AND LOVE**_

"Excuse me, Bard!" Starfire asked him politely over the roar of the swooshing air and roaring engine as the two of them sped on the Harley through Jump City. "But is not the mall in the opposite direction?"

"You're right!" Bard yelled back over his shoulder. "But that's because we're not going to the mall! I know a place just on the outskirts of town!" He sensed, rather than saw or felt, Starfire's slow nod at his answer.

Not too long after that, Bard pulled the bike up in a parking lot at an old fashioned Mom and Pops diner that he had stopped at when he had first entered town. He dismounted the motorcycle and then turned and offered a helping hand to Starfire. She accepted it and then looked over the old, wooden building curiously as she too got off the bike.

"What is this place?" She asked.

"It's a diner." Bard explained, but when he saw her blank look, he added: "A restaurant. You know, like the pizza parlor we went to last week."

"I thought most of those were inside the mall." Starfire commented, as she walked through the front door of the diner that Bard held open for her. They quickly found a table and sat down.

"Naw," Bard said. "There are restaurants and food places all over the city. You and the other Titans don't get out very much, do you?"

"But that is not true at all!" Starfire protested. "We travel to the mall and the pizza parlor quite frequently, and once my older sister took us all to a, what did she call it, a rave?"

Bard smiled as the mental picture of Robin getting down to some 'funky beats' popped into his head. Prudently, he decided not to comment on it. Instead-

"You have a sister? I didn't know that."

"Her name is Blackfire." Starfire nodded. "But...our last meeting was not a happy one."

Bard was about to ask her about that, but just then a plump, wispy haired waitress came up to their table.

"Welcome to the diner. My name is Sandy and I'll be servin' you today." She said to them in a warm, welcoming voice. "Now, what can I get you two lovebirds?

Both Starfire and Bard blushed slightly at that, but Bard was the first to recover.

"How you doin'?" He greeted the waitress. "I'll have, uh, two steak biscuits and a Dr. Pepper."

"Comin' right up." She said to him, scribbling on a yellow notepad with a pen. "And what can I get you, little lady?" She turned and asked Starfire, but it was obvious that the Titan had no idea what to say.

"Ah...she'll have a glass of milk and some blueberry pancakes." Bard covered for her.

"All right," Sandy told them. "I'll be back in a jiff." She turned and walked away towards the kitchen.

"Sorry 'bout that." Bard apologized to Starfire when the waitress had left. "I probably should have gotten you a menu."

"That is all right." She forgave him. "Now, tell me, what exactly will we do at church today?"

"I'm afraid it won't be as exciting as you think." Bard told her. "We sit on long benches and listen to the preacher tell us about God. Oh, and we pray, of course." He added.

"Pray?"

"It's how we talk to God." Bard explained.

"Oh, will God be there today? I would very much like to meet him!"

Bard sweat dropped.

"We can't really talk to God face to face." He said. "God lives in Heaven and we live on earth. We won't truly meet him until we die."

"But if you have never seen God," Starfire said as her brow furrowed in thought. "Then how do you know that he does indeed exist?"

"That's where your faith come in." Bard said, smiling at her. "Just because you don't see something doesn't mean it's not there."

"I am afraid I do not understand."

"Let me show you what I mean. Close your eyes." Bard instructed her. Then, making sure she wasn't peeking, he reach out with both hands and gently grasped her wrist and hand. "Now," he continued. "What am I doing?"

"You're holding my hand." She replied, giggling slightly.

"How do you know?" Bard pressed her. "You can't see me, can you?"

"No," she said, shaking her head.

"Then how do you know I'm holding your hand?"

"Because I can feel you." Starfire opened her eyes.

"Exactly my point." Bard said, satisfied that his demonstration had worked the way he had wanted it to. "You couldn't see me, but you knew I was here because you could feel me. It's the exact same thing with God."

"But how can you feel him?"

"I feel him everyday." Bard said. "And I see him, too. Every time the wind blows or whenever I breathe. And I see him every time I look up at the sun or the clouds or anything. He made everything. You, me, earth, the galaxy. He made it all."

Unnoticed, Sandy the waitress walked back up to their table.

"Here are the drinks you ordered-" The woman stopped. "Oh! I'm sorry. Was I interrupting something?"

Bard blinked owlishly at her, not quite understanding what she was talking about. But then he suddenly realized that he was still reaching across the table and holding Starfire's hand. He sweat dropped and quickly jerked his hands back to where they belonged.

"Of course not!" He told the waitress, his voice slightly shrill.

"Um-hmm," Sandy told him, though she didn't look convinced. "Like I was saying, a Dr. Pepper for you and a glass of milk for the pretty young lady."

"Thank you," Starfire said shyly.

"You look like you're surprised." The waitress said to Starfire. "Your boyfriend here must give you compliments all the time!"

"I'm not-" Bard started, but Starfire was already replying.

"Well, he told me I looked 'nice' this morning."

"Nice?" Sandy repeated, leaning down over the table to look over at Bard. "Nice? That's pathetic, boy! You should really work on that." She straightened. "Now, I'll leave you two alone to discuss it if you like, while I go back to the kitchen and get your food." She turned and waddled away.

"Er, so, where were we?"

"We were talking about God." Starfire said. "But I still find it hard to believe that someone I can't see can be real."

"Well, we all have doubts with our faith sometimes." Bard explained, regaining his composure. "Me included. But ever since I first stepped foot into the tower, I haven't had a single doubt."

"Why not?"

"Well," Bard said. "I believe God gave us a life here to learn. But everyone is different, and so everyone needs to learn something different. Everyone has a road to walk, so to speak. I reckon you could think of life as a school, and you graduate when you die and go to heaven. The road God set for me led me to you."

"Me?" Starfire looked a little startled.

'_Crap! That didn't come out the way I meant it!'_

_'_**Are you sure?**'

"I meant you and the other Titans, of course." Bard quickly covered himself, ignoring his father. "I'm here to learn something, but I don't know what. Friendship, maybe, or even love." He cleared his throat quickly. That was the second time he had put his boot in his mouth! "But maybe I've already learned everything God wants me to know, and I'm just supposed to help protect life until mine ends."

"That is very interesting!" Starfire's face was wholly fascinated. "What is it, do you think, that God wishes for me to learn?"

"Hmm, I don't know." Bard told her, scratching his cheek absently. "I think only God know that. But if I had to guess-" He paused. Did he really want to tell her this?

"What would be your guess, Bard?"

Bard sighed.

"My guess would be that God wants you to learn how to open up your emotions, your deepest emotions, to the person you love."

'_God, that hurt...'_

'**Don't you remember what I said, son? Your compassion will be your greatest regret. I told you to mark those words, did I not?'**

_'...'_

Meanwhile, completely oblivious to the internal conversation Bard was having with his father, Starfire was blushing hard and looking down at her fidgeting hands.

"You...know?" She asked meekly.

"I think everyone knows." Bard said to her gently. "Robin loves you, too. I promise that if you open your heart to him, you'll both be deliriously happy."

"But...I like you, too, Bard."

Bard felt his heart wrench inside him at that.

"I know you do," He tried to smile at her and hide his wet eyes from her at the same time. "But you _love_ him."

"Oh, thank you, Bard!" Starfire gushed happily, standing up and bringing Bard against her with a giant hug. "I will go tell him right this very moment!" She spun and took two leaps toward the door, but then she suddenly stopped and turned back to Bard.

"But we have not eaten our meal, yet." Starfire said. "And the church-"

"It's all right." Bard told her, waving her off. "Go do what you have to do."

Starfire smiled then, and Bard knew he would never see anything ever again to compare in beauty against it. And then she was gone out the front door. He turned towards the window and, smiling sadly, he watched her lift herself into the air and fly onwards towards the bay and Titans Tower.

When Sandy returned to the table with two steak biscuits and a plate of blueberry pancakes, the two lovebirds were gone. Their drinks hadn't even been touched! The waitress smiled knowingly to herself. The young cowboy must have worked on his compliment problem, and then the two of them had probably went someplace private to 'discuss' it. Laughing wickedly, she turned and headed back to the kitchen.

Even as, across the city in Titans Tower, Starfire was opening her heart to the Boy Wonder, Bard had pulled up on his Harley before the church. With a stony, downcast face, he went directly inside and sat on the very back row of red upholstered pews. Last week, he had a few friendly conversations with the other members of the church, but today he did not feel like talking. Sometime later, Bard could not have told you how long, the preacher welcomed everyone, said the opening prayer and began his sermon. But Bard didn't hear a single word of it. He was looking down at the open bible in his lap, reading Corinthians 13:13 over and over again.

_And now these three remain: Faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love._

After the service, when everyone else had left, Bard still sat. The gray haired preacher came over to him and laid an comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Is there something I can help you with, son?" He asked Bard gently with concern in his friendly brown eyes.

"I don't think so, sir." Bard shook his head. "I'd just like to stay her a little longer. If that's okay with you, of course."

"Of course," The preacher said kindly, patting his shoulder assuringly. Then he turned and followed the rest of the progression outside. When Bard judged that he was gone, he turned back towards the front of the church to the altar and called:

"I know you're there. Why don't you go ahead and come on out?"

Jinx leapt from the rafters and landed on soft, catlike feet on the red carpeted center walkway between the two sets of pews. Her face looked surprised.

"How did you know I was here?" She demanded of Bard.

"I didn't, really." Bard shrugged. "I just figured this is where Slade would send me his message. This is the only place I'm guaranteed to be, and he probably thought it was too risky to send another communication to Titans Tower.

"You're smart." Jinx told him, whistling as if she were impressed. "No wonder he wants you to be an apprentice."

Bard sighed and rubbed his temples. It wasn't even noon yet, and already he was having a long day.

"Did Slade send you here to compliment me or send me a message?" He asked the sorceress bluntly.

"As Slade would say, 'have patience, young Bard'. Besides, don't you want to know who else is working for him at the moment?"

"All right," Bard conceded. "Who?"

"Well, she seemed to have the biggest crush on you at one time. And I can see why." She roamed her pink eyes over Bard's body in a way that made him feel _very_ uncomfortable. "But it seems you broke her heart, and now she just wants to rip open your chest and break yours. Slade won't let her, of course, but she wants to." She added.

"Kitten?!" Bard asked incredulously.

"I told you you were smart, Bard." Jinx pointed out. "You got it on the very first try!"

"But..." Bard floundered with it. "She doesn't have any superpowers. How could she possibly help Slade?"

"I don't know." Jinx replied. "And it's not my place to ask." She pursed her lips. "She _is_ quite good with those laser guns, though." She added.

"All right, enough chit-chat." Bard said bluntly. "Where does Slade want to meet?"

"You're no fun." Jinx pouted. "He wants to meet up in the mountains. There a cabin about thirty miles north of the juvenile prison. Be there tomorrow night."

Bard nodded.

"What the matter?" The pink haired girl asked him then. "All through the church service you looked like Lady Luck just stabbed you in the back."

If Bard hadn't felt so miserable, he would have laughed at that.

"You're the enemy, Jinx. I'm not going to tell you my problems."

"Fine, suit yourself." She told him. "Oh, by the way, if you make the right decision, I won't be the enemy anymore."

Bard stood up and opened the front doors of the church to leave.

"Good luck," Jinx called after him.

"What' s that supposed to mean?" Bard asked.

But when he turned around, she was gone.

Bard reluctantly arrived back at Titans Tower not long afterward, but he had two minds about that. He wasn't sure how he'd react to seeing Starfire and Robin together, but he _was_ moderately curious about how it was working out. Besides, he told himself, he was going to see it sooner or later. He might as well let it be sooner...

In the main room, Raven was reading on her futon and, surprisingly, Beast Boy and Cyborg weren't playing video games. Instead, the two mismatched friends were sitting at the kitchen table playing poker with blue, red, and white plastic chips. Tipping his hat slightly to Raven as he walked by her, he pulled himself a seat up to the table.

"Think you could deal me in?" He asked Beast Boy and Cyborg.

"Uh, sure, man." Cyborg told him carefully. He pushed some chips in front of Bard and dealt out the cards.

Bard called the ante and threw down two cards. He had three spades, and two more would give him a flush. Cyborg dealt him two more cards. Bard looked at the first one: A green eyed queen of hearts. Didn't that just beat all! He looked over at the next one: It was a joker card that grinned mockingly at him. All right, Bard could take a joke from irony as well as any other man, but this was really pushin' it!

"I fold." He murmured, placing his hand face down on the table. "By the way, have ya'll seen Robin and Starfire around?"

Unnoticed, Raven set aside her book and looked over at them.

"Uh, er, well, funny you should mention that..." Beast Boy forced out.

"Look man," Cyborg said, casting a disparaging look at his green friend. "I hate to be the one to tell ya this, but Starfire and Robin-"

"I know," Bard said quickly, hoping the if he said it fast enough they wouldn't be able to detect any pain in his voice. "I'm the one who suggested to Starfire to finally open up to him."

"Dude, what? But you-" Beast Boy stopped, realizing he had gone to far.

"I what?" Bard asked suspiciously.

"Well, uh..." Beast Boy sweat. "All right, fine! Ya beat it out of me! Me and Cyborg-"

"Hey, why do you have to put _my_ name in it!"

"Cause you were there!" Beast Boy told him. "Now, like I was sayin': Me and Cyborg was hiding in the kitchen this morning when you were talking to Starfire. And you didn't come out and say it, but I could tell by the look in your eyes that-" He stopped abruptly.

Perhaps because of some strange, male instinct, all three boys slowly craned their necks around to stare at Raven, who had been stoically eavesdropping. She simply stared back at them.

"Uh, Raye." Cyborg said a little pointedly. "We're trying to have a guy talk here."

Raven blinked slowly.

"Oh," She finally droned, picking up her book and quietly leaving the room.

When she was gone, Beast Boy turned back to Bard, who noticed that, for the first time since his time in the tower, that the changeling's face was serious.

"Dude," he said without a drip of sarcasm in his voice. "I was watching you when you saw Starfire this morning, and I know what I saw. You love her, man!"

"What?" Bard asked, feigning shock. "You don't know what you're talkin' about! She's just a friend. Besides, I've only known her for like a week!"

"What was that look in your eyes, then?" Beast Boy wanted to know, still not convinced.

"Pssh! I don't know!" Bard exclaimed. "Maybe...I'm just not used to seeing her in anything 'cept her Titan uniform."

"Told ya, BB!" Cyborg crowed.

"I don't buy it." Beast Boy declared. "I _know_ what I saw, and it was love!" He paused as he thought about it. "Man, you've _got_ to be hurtin' right now!"

"..." Bard said nothing, but the pain in his blue eyes was evident.

"See! I knew it!" Beast Boy turned and nudged Cyborg. "But don't worry Bard, I-" He had turned to look back at Bard, but all the changeling saw was the cowboy's back as he walked towards the elevator.

"Hey, man!" Cyborg called after him. "BB didn't mean anything by it! We-"

But it was too late, the elevator doors had already closed.

Bard stepped out of the elevator, his cowboy boots clanking against the concrete of the roof. He looked up and saw that scudding, threatening black clouds were covering the sky. And he laughed; a bitter, empty laugh that had no humor in it at all. Fate was being a real bit-

"Was there something you wanted?"

Bard started. He jerked his eyes towards the familiar voice. It was Raven. Her dark purple hood was down and she sat on the edge of the building with her book at her side.

"Howdy, Raven." He said without much enthusiasm. Then he walked over and sat beside her, facing the opposite direction.

"Mind if I smoke a cigarette?"

Raven shrugged.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'." Bard muttered, placing a Marlboro between his lips and lighting it up.

A sudden thought came to him. This was the first cigarette he had smoked all day! He had been with Starfire ever since he woke up this morning, and lighting one up had never crossed his mind. He smiled grimly. If he had held out on his advice to her for a week or so, he could have probably quit...

"Want to talk about it?" Raven finally asked, breaking the silence.

"Talk about what?"

"You and Starfire,"

Bard blinked, took off his glasses and wiped them on his shirt.

"Does _everyone_ know?" He demanded then.

"I knew the first time you saw her." Raven told him. "Why do you think I made such a big deal out of her and Robin feelings?"

Bard stared at her.

"Do you really think I'm one for gossip?" When Bard didn't reply, she continued. "I was trying to spare you the heartbreak...But it looks like I failed, huh?"

"It's not your fault." Bard told her.

"I know it isn't." Raven replied seriously. "What you did today was very brave."

"How did you know about that?"

"Starfire told me."

"Heh, I knew you two talked."

"Don't let it overwhelm you." Raven grated. "I just wanted to say...that it was a very strong thing you did today. I'm...proud of you."

"Well, thanks." Bard murmured.

The cowboy looked up and, for some reason, the clouds didn't seem quite as threatening as before and the sky seemed brighter. He still hurt inside, but he knew that the road God had laid out for him would lead him into tomorrow.

**'Nice guys always finish last, son.'**

"You're right," Bard said under his breath, though he was aware that Raven probably heard him. "We do finish last, but that's because we have further to go."


	14. Confrontations

_"Dude, whenever a woman describes another woman as 'nice', or starts spouting some crap about her personality or somethin', you know something's wrong with'em!" - Tim_

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

**CONFRONTATIONS**

_Not long after he had finished talking with Raven on the roof, Bard and the Teen Titans sat around the kitchen table for an impromptu team meeting. Robin and Starfire, sitting side by side, were inconspicuously holding hands beneath the table, but Bard pretended not to notice._

_"So, what's up, Bard?" Beast Boy asked him. "Slade finally sent you his message?"_

_"I could never hide anything from you." Bard muttered sourly, but then he shook his head as if to dispel those bitter thoughts. "That's right," he continued. "And I got a bit of extra information, too. Jinx was the messenger, and she told me that she and_ Kitten are working for Slade now."

"Kitten!?" Starfire exclaimed disbelievingly.

"Never knew Slade was that much of a ladies' man." Beast Boy joked.

"That's what I said." Bard told Starfire, ignoring Beast Boy's comment. "I mean, she doesn't have any superpowers so-" He paused. "No offense, Robin. You were trained by Batman, so I'd consider that a superpower all in itself."

Robin merely nodded.

"Anyway," Bard went on. "I asked Jinx about that, but she said she didn't know why Slade hired her either. The only other information I could get out of her about Kitten is that she's working with laser guns and she still hates my guts."

"It really _is_ a thin line between love and hate." Cyborg snickered.

"How 'bout: Hell hath no fury like woman scorned!" Beast Boy backed him up, but when he saw Bard's glare, he added: "Hey, chill out, man! That's in the bible, anyway, isn't it?"

"..."

"Enough, guys." Robin order them, holding up a gloved hand. Then he turned to Bard. "So where did Slade want to meet you?"

"An old cabin." Bard answered it. "Jinx said it's about thirty miles north of the juvenile prison."

"Ever been there?" Robin asked.

Bard shook his head. Robin slowly pulled his hand from Starfire's loving grasp, stood up and went over to the computer. Then he pulled up an overhead map on the large screen. His eye slits narrowed at the screen and after a moment he began to punch on the keyboard.

"What is it?" Raven wanted to know.

"There's a cabin up there, all right." Robin confirmed, his eyes still glued to the screen. "But according to this, the place is a historical landmark."

"What's so important about an old cabin?" Cyborg asked.

"It says that, according to legend, a witch used to live there." Robin answered, reading the document on the screen. "Supposedly, the witch was trying to open up a portal to Hell when the villagers of a nearby town decided it was time to burn her at the stake."

"How awful!" Starfire cried out.

"After they were done with that," Robin continued to explain. "They covered the house with tar and boarded it up. It went untouched for years, and eventually the city made it into a landmark."

"But why would they do that?" Beast Boy demanded. "I mean, it's just a creepy cabin, isn't it?"

"That probably the reason they did it." Robin guessed. "Kids were probably going up there to see the 'haunted house'. The city probably made it a historical landmark just to keep them from going up there and hurting themselves."

"Reckon that makes sense." Bard concluded. "Now, how did you want to do this?"

"Before you go in." Robin said, staring at the topographical map. "We'll hide here at the edge of the woods." He pointed at the screen.

"That might not be a good idea." Bard frowned dubiously. "That's only about a hundred yards from the cabin." He pointed out. "If Slade decides to have some men make a sweep though the area, they'll probably find you. How 'bout you camp out here in this gully?"

Robin looked to see where Bard was pointing at the screen.

"It's too dangerous." He said immediately when he saw. "That's a mile away from the place!"

"So, what?"

"If something goes wrong," the Boy Wonder told him. "We'll be too far away to help you."

"I can take care of myself long enough for the rest of you to get there and spring the trap." Bard protested. "Besides, I think it's the only way to take down Slade."

Robin sighed, crossed his arms and chewed the inside of his cheek as he thought about that.

"Fine," he finally agreed. "As long as you understand the danger-"

"Perfectly,"

"It's settled then." Robin decided.

With that, Bard decided to go back to his room. He had felt better after talking to his half sister, but he still did not feel up to talking casually to anyone at the moment. He was halfway there when he heard footsteps in the hall behind him. Someone was following him! He spun and fell into a ninjitsu stance, but there was no need. It was only Starfire. For some reason, Bard would have rather had a bloodthirsty werewolf or something behind him instead of her. He sighed.

"What can I help you with, Starfire?" He asked as calmly as possible.

"I just wanted to thank you for your advice, earlier." Starfire said. "Robin felt the same way, and I am as happy as you said I would be!"

"I'm glad,"

'**A lie, son? Perhaps I can make you into a bearer of the family name, yet.'**

_'Don't count on it.'_

"But I was still rude this morning and-"

"I said don't worry about it, didn't I?" Bard reminded her gently. "It's all right."

"It is kind for you to forgive me, Bard, but I still feel remorseful about leaving you at the dinner." She replied, her voice concerned. "So I thought that perhaps we could go next Sunday!"

"Diner," Bard corrected her absently.

"What?"

"Never mind." Bard told her. "But, I don't think it would be a good idea for you to come with me."

"You...don't want to be my friend anymore?" Starfire asked sadly, looking as helpless as a lost puppy.

"Of course not, Star! I'll always be your friend." Bard assured her quickly. "But...I just think that it might be a little...inappropriate, I reckon."

"Inappropriate?" Starfire asked, her face puzzled. "In what way would my accompanying you to church be inappropriate?"

"Well..." Bard searched for the right way to say it. "I just don't know...I just don't know if I can trust myself with you."

"But you are a perfect gentleman! I-I am afraid that I do not understand..."

Bard smiled humorlessly.

"I didn't think you would. Just trust me on this, all right?"

Starfire nodded slowly and Bard left her alone, continuing on his way to his room.

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"All right, Jon, it's time for you to give me the run down." Tim said. "You've been dating this girl for a month. When are ya'll gonna..." He left it off suggestively.

Jonny laughed incredulously.

"Is that all you ever think about, man?" He asked through his laugh.

Tim took a moment to give it some thought.

"Pretty much," he admitted. "That and beer."

Jonny laughed again.

"You're the only fifteen year old I know who drinks beer." He said to Tim. "Don't you know that's bad for ya?"

"Smoking's bad for ya, too, ain't it?"

"All right, point taken."

"And don't act like you never drank beer before, either." Tim said.

"Just one time!" Jonny defended himself. "I had _one_ at that party!"

"You had more than one." Tim contradicted with a rough laugh. "You were _dancing_! And I don't mean that square dancing crap you like. You were break dancing!"

"Pssh! I was not!"

"Dude, don't even lie to yourself like that!"

"All right, maybe I was." Jonny admitted shamefacedly. "But I _did_ only have one beer! Someone must have spiked it or somethin'."

Suddenly, Tim grabbed his belly as wave after wave of uncontrollable laughter erupted from him. Jonny was about was about to ask his friend what was so frickin' funny when he suddenly put two and two together.

"You spiked my beer!" Jonny exclaimed accusingly.

Tim simply laughed harder.

"hahahahah- Sorry, man!" Tim finally got his laughter under control.

"Yeah, yeah." Jonny said sourly. "Hey, you think you can cover for me again tonight?"

"C'mon man, this is the like the fifth night in a row!" Tim said. "You two have _got_ to be doing _something!_"

"Tim, do yourself a favor and think about beer instead." Jonny said bluntly. "By the way, how'd it work out between you and Amber's friend?"

"Stephanie?" Tim asked with a disgusted look.

"Is that her name?" Jonny asked. "Amber told me she was a nice girl."

"Why didn't you tell me that before?" Tim demanded.

"What difference does it make?"

"Don't you know anything!?" Tim said exasperatedly.

Jonny gave him a blank look.

"Dude," Tim explained. "Whenever a woman describes another woman as 'nice', or starts spouting some crap about her personality or somethin', you _know_ something's wrong with'em!"

Bard blinked.

"What was wrong with Stephanie?" He asked.

"Oh, nothing much..." Tim said deceptively. "Except for the fact that she was about _three hundred pounds_!"

Jonny laughed for five minutes straight. It wasn't quite _that_ funny, but hey, revenge was sweet...

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The next morning in the main room, Bard pulled Robin aside.

"I've been thinking about this thing with Slade." He told the Boy Wonder.

"Having second thoughts?" Robin guessed.

Bard shook his head.

"It's not that." He said. "It's just that I think we might be taking this the wrong way."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that we've been looking at this as an ambush on me, but that might not be exactly true." Bard explained. "He doesn't want me as an apprentice, that's why he was taunting me on that video. He's gonna be there waiting, and when I tell to kiss my, er, butt, that's when he'll try to take me out."

"What are you getting at?"

"What do you think would happen if I told him that I accepted his proposal to be an apprentice?" Bard asked. "I think he would take me in. His plan in all of this is to keep the Titans at five, and either way he gets what he wants. I could play along with him, and then, when he least expects it..."

"If nothing else, it would be poetic justice." Robin chuckled slightly.

"I don't quite follow that." Bard admitted.

"I didn't expect you to." Robin replied, and Bard got he impression that the subject was painful for the Boy Wonder. "I'll explain it some other time. Oh, by the way, I finished your body armor."

"Oh, yeah?" Bard couldn't hide the tinge of excitement in his voice. "Where is it?"

Robin wordlessly pointed a glove finger at the couch. Bard quickly took the black trench coat from the arm of the piece of furniture and threw it on. It was surprisingly light.

"Now this is what I'm talkin' about!" Bard exclaimed, looking down to check himself out. Then, he spun all the way around on the heel of one of his cowboy boots, which made the coat flare out dramatically around him. Robin shook his head.

"Aw, c'mon, Robin!" Bard said, catching the look. "I bet you did the exact same thing the first time you donned a cape, didn't you?"

"..." Robin looked down at his metal-toed boots.

"Ha! I knew it!"

"Yeah, well," Robin defended himself. "I was a lot younger than you when I first started the superhero thing."

"How old were you?" Bard asked, surprised. This was the first time he had ever heard Robin say _anything_ about his past.

"..." Robin's silence made it evident that he had not meant to let that slip out.

"All right, I get the point." Bard told him.

Robin nodded, turned and went to go brief the other Titans about the possibility of a new plan.

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In the darkness, the Teen Titans waited in the deep, rocky trench of the gully high up in the mountains. The moon was a sliver in the purple flesh of the sky above them, and the multitude of stars seemed unusually bright now that the smog of the city was thinner.

While the others waited idly, Robin was crouched down on one knee, his hand clamped over the communicator in his ear.

Meanwhile, Bard had just pulled his bike up before the old cabin and switched off the engine. He looked around cautiously at the blackness around the place before dismounting.

"_Are you in position?" _Robin's electronic voice asked him through the tiny, almost invisible device in his ear.

"_I'm about to go in now._" Bard answered softly.

"_All right, but be careful."_

_"Ten-four,"_

Bard looked at the old, wooden front door of the place. He didn't bother knocking, since he was being expected, anyway. He slowly opened the creaking front door...and was immediately greeted by the dangerous end of a big, metal laser rifle. Bard peeked over the weapon and sweat dropped. The weapon didn't scare him quite as much as the pure, unadulterated hate in Kitten's hard blue eyes. She wore a similar outfit from where Bard had seen her in the school. The red bandanna adorned her forehead, keeping back her tendrils of blonde hair and she wore the same black combat boots and baggy pants as before. Around her waist, she wore a thick, black leather holster that housed an laser pistol. The loose, battle outfit was finished by a sleeveless, dark green t-shirt with a small 'V' cut at the neckline.

"Get in here," she grated at him from between clenched teeth. Bard followed the order, making sure his hands were in plain view away from his body.

Kitten closed the heavy wooden door as soon as he was inside and bolted it quickly. It was very bright in the cabin compared to the dark night outside and Bard blinked a few times as he waited for his eyes to adjust. When they finally did, Bard looked around at his surroundings. There wasn't much to look at, really. There was no interior building; The inside of the cabin was simply one big room perhaps a bit larger than the main room back at Titans Tower.

A wooden oak desk stood to just one side of the door, and there were shelves that went all the way around the walls, holding multicolored, blown glass vials filled with liquids and concoctions that Bard didn't recognize. A rusty, candle-lit chandelier hung from the rafters, and above it were more modern lights that were obviously put in much later. But the very first thing Bard noticed, however, were Slade and Jinx standing side by side in the middle of the room. And before them was a strange, black symbol that seemed to be burned into the floor. It was a star and other exotic designs drawn inside a circle perhaps five feet in diameter. For some reason, that symbol chilled Bard to the very bone.

"Hello, Bard." Slade greeted him with his emotionless, distinguished voice.

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The Teen Titans were still waiting, hidden in the gully and Robin was still crouched down, listening intently.

"_Get in here." _The Boy Wonder overheard on the frequency.

"I think I just heard Kitten." He announced to the other Titans. Then, there was a low, growling noise. "Keep your stomach quiet, Cyborg." Robin admonished him. "I'm trying to listen."

"Hey, that won't me! I ate before we left."

"Beast Boy?" Robin asked, turning to the green changeling.

"It wasn't me." Beast Boy said.

The faint roaring sound grew slightly louder. With narrowed eye slits, Robin stood up and looked up at the blackness where the gully climbed up the mountain, thinking. But after a moment, those eye slits widened as it dawned on him exactly what the sound was.

"Titans!" He barked. "Out of the gully! Now!"

Robin quickly reached down to his yellow utility belt and whipped out a grappling hook. The hook was shot into a nearby tree and, when he retracted it, it catapulted him to the safety of the bank, even as Starfire and Raven flew and levitated out beside him. Beast Boy transformed into a kangaroo to leap up onto the bank and Cyborg began to scramble up the steep, rocky slope.

As he was climbing, Robin looked up along the gully and saw for the first time what he had guessed. Thousands of gallons of water were barrowing down the trench with frightening speed, roaring angrily. Slade must have sabotaged the dam near the top of the mountain!

"Hurry, Cyborg!" Robin urged, as he watched wave after wave of the flood come closer and closer, threatening to whisk Cyborg away with the current.

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"Hello, Bard."

Bard nodded tersely, cautiously trying to keep an eye on Jinx, Kitten and Slade at the same time.

"You seem tense, Bard." Slade said tonelessly with mock concern. "Perhaps a friendly skirmish will calm you nerves, hm?"

One of Slade's black clothed robots leapt with a crash through a side window. Then another, and another. When it was all said and done, ten of the metal minions were lined up in front of Bard, their, small, handheld blasters at the ready. Bard quickly reached into his trench coat and retracted the metal staff Robin had given him. With a rebel yell, he charged forward at the underlings with the weapon held high over his head; that is, until one of his metallic foes shot the staff from his grasp. Bard stopped abruptly, grinned nervously, then turned and hightailed it.

**ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!**

He ran as fast as his legs could take him as all the robots opened up with their blasters and laser fire sizzled in the air around him. He dove and crouched behind the desk, which was the only cover the room provided. It wouldn't last long, however. Chunks of wood, splinters and sawdust flew into the air as the blasters continued their assault on the meek piece of furniture.

Bard shook his head ruefully. This wasn't fair! Ten gun toting robots against one unarmed cowboy?! He knew he was in a tight spot, but no brilliant ideas popped into his head. Desperately, he looked up and began to mutter a quick prayer.

"Please, God, help me-" He stopped suddenly when he saw what was above him. "Thanks, big guy."

Bard picked up the office chair and slung it blindly behind him over the desk as a distraction, and then he leapt up, grabbled an arm-full of the glass vials from the shelf and slung them to the floor. The vials shattered and the chemicals or whatever the bottles had held mixed together, making multicolored smoke. Soon enough, the smoke was so thick that it was impossible to see anything.

"Interesting trick," Slade said. "But it is only delaying the inevitable."

Bard was not stupid enough to answer that and reveal his location. After a moment, however...

"I'll take that!" He announced.

When the smoke finally cleared enough to see, Bard was standing on what was left of the desk. Around his waist was the holster and laser pistol that had previously belonged to Kitten.

"Hey! That's _mine!_" She screeched.

Grinning viciously, Bard ignored her.

"Draw!"

**ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!**

Bard was able to take out three of the robots before they resumed fire. He front flipped off the desk to avoid their blasts and landed in a crouch. Then, as not to become a stationary target, he ran up the wall, humming the wind song for added help, and side flipped, shooting all the while.

**ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!**

"I've always wanted to do that." Bard muttered to himself after he performed the Matrix-like acrobatic, even as he saw that only four of the robots remained. For some reason, they discarded their blasters and charged him. Bard holstered his laser pistol, since it probably wouldn't work very well with close up melee fighting.

Bard threw a punch at his nearest adversary, but the robot easily blocked it and answered with a quick counter kick that struck Bard in the chest and forced him to stumble back against the wall. All four robots were on him now, lined up side by side. Bard leapt backwards, catapulted himself off the wall and spread his legs wide, kicking the two robots who were farthest apart. At the exact same time, he thrust out both of his fists, punching the two robots in the inner part of the horizontal formation. All four of them stumbled back as Bard landed in a crouch with an irrepressible grin on his face.

_'This is fun!'_

**'Of course it is, destruction is always fun.'**

But Bard didn't have time to think about that particular comment, however, since he saw that the robots were now far enough away to use his songs. He whipped his guitar from his back to his front.

_And I will sail my vessel til' the river runs dry!_

Then, as if God had just tipped over a bucket, a hundred gallons of water appeared out of nowhere overhead and dumped down on the remaining robots. There was a sizzle of blue electricity as they short circuited and reverted to harmless, metal shells. Bard walked over and picked up his dropped staff, and then turned to glare at Slade, ready for anything. He barely noticed that Kitten and Jinx had disappeared during the fight. The two remaining opponents stared at each other for several moments; Slade's eyes were calm and speculative, and Bard's blue eyes shone with a kind of desperate intensity. The silence between them was finally broken when Slade began to clap slowly.

"Impressive, young Bard." Slade said then. "You have passed my test splendidly."

"Test?" Bard demanded.

"Of course," Slade replied. "Come now, if I truly wanted to kill you, you would already be dead."

For some reason, Bard didn't doubt that.

"Then what do you want?"

"As I told you once before, Bard. I want you to be my apprentice."

Bard bit his lip seriously as a million thoughts ran through his head.

"I accept," he answered finally.

"I am surprised, Bard." Slade admitted. "I would have thought that a virtuous church goer like yourself would have turned me down flat."

"Finding religion doesn't make you virtuous."

"I wouldn't know," Slade said candidly. "But I must ask, why do you want to join me, Bard?"

"..."

"Surely there must be a reason, isn't there, Bard?" Slade's eyes were probing, as if he were trying to pierce the cowboy's psyche by sheer will alone. Bard took in a deep breath.

"My name is Jonny, not Bard." He said. "And I...I want you to help me find Amber."


	15. Death, Loss And Rebirth

_"The sun might not have set as much as I would like. But it will, Bard. Mark my words, it will." - Slade_

_**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**_

_**DEATH, LOSS AND REBIRTH**_

"Hurry, Cyborg!"

Robin and the other Titans watched with concern as Cyborg struggled manfully to lift his huge bulk up out of the gully and onto the safety of the bank. The Boy Wonder glanced up apprehensively at the gully and saw that the water was coming faster and faster. Cyborg wouldn't make it in time!

"Star-" Robin started to say, but there was no need. The fiery headed Tamaranian

had already flown down and grabbed Cyborg's hands. Water whisked by the half robot's metal legs as Starfire lifted him up and dropped him off on the bank where the others were waiting.

"Are you all right?" Robin asked him anxiously.

"Yeah," Cyborg replied after he had sat down heavily and caught his breath. "Just as soon as my heart leaves my throat and goes back down to where it belongs."

"What happened?" Raven asked.

"There's a dam about ten miles further up into the mountains." Robin explained. "Slade must have sabotaged it somehow."

"How did he know we'd be here?"

"I don't know," Robin admitted. "But I _do_ know that it came too close for comfort to working."

"Yeah, man! That was a _way_ close call!" Beast Boy piped in.

"It was a close cut, indeed!" Starfire agreed.

"Shave," Someone corrected her; but it wasn't Robin. A red laser blast cut through the night and collided straight into Robin's chest, flinging him backwards. When he hit the ground, he rolled limply from the impact, coming within inches of falling into the churning waters of the newly made river.

"Robin!" Starfire cried out, leaping over to him.

"Titans, go!" Cyborg ordered, taking the role of leader since Robin was indisposed.

**ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!**

Kitten let out a barrage of red laser fire. Raven quickly conjured up a small, black shield with a wave of her hand to block one of the shots aimed at her, but the pure force of the laser's impact was enough to send her reeling onto her back. Another shot hit Cyborg in the metallic part of his head. The glancing blow spun him around like a top and he hit the ground hard with a crash.

Since Starfire was still tending to Robin, Beast Boy was the only fighting Titan left on the field at the moment. The changeling transformed into a small monkey and charged, using the animals speed and agility to dodge the lasers that were flung at him. When he judged he was close enough, Beast Boy jumped up with all his might to wrap himself around Kitten's face. It was one of his best tactics, as it blinded the enemy and usually gave his comrades enough time to regroup, if not finish off the opponent.

But, unfortunately, it didn't work this time. Maybe he had used it one to many times. Kitten ducked just in the nick of time, and when Beast Boy spun around to try again, he found himself looking up the barrel of the laser rifle.

"Eep!"

**ZAP!**

The green monkey tumbled over and over until Beast Boy returned to elf form. His chest was smoking.

"I never thought I'd see the day when _Kitten_ would be beating the tar out of us." The changeling muttered groggily, shaking his head to clear it.

"Robin!" Starfire was saying, trying to help him to his feet. "Wake up! Your friends need your assistance!"

"Ugh..." Slowly, very slowly, Robin made it to his feet, even as Cyborg and Raven were pressing the attack.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

The laser rifle Kitten was holding suddenly glowed with obsidian energy.

"No!" Kitten called out in anguish, but it was too late; the weapon had already been torn from her grasp. With a giant grin, Cyborg strode forward to the adolescent girl and easily picked her up by the back of the shirt; much as he would have Gizmo.

"Not so tough without your laser rifle, are you?" Cyborg asked her pleasantly, still grinning from ear to ear. Kitten seethed silently as the half robot continued. "This just hasn't been your week, huh? You're dear ole daddy's back in jail, Bard duped you, then dumped you, and now you've been captured by the Teen Titans!"

"Her luck's about to change!"

"...!" Cyborg eyes widened in shock for a split second before the pink hex blast hit the ground before his feet. A muffled boom echoed in his ears as there was an explosion underneath the earth, and Cyborg was sent flying into the air.

Jinx had come in the form of reinforcements, but she hadn't come alone. Perhaps thirty of Slade's black clothed and orange faced robots swarmed forward around her and charged. Bright green star bolts blew holes in the chest of a few of them, and Robin ran forward to plant his metal toed shoe into a robot chest. Then, in midair, he pivoted, spun and planted his other foot into the face of another. Beast Boy was back up in the form of a stegosaurus, and he whipped his long tail around, taking ten or so robots off their feet. Cyborg was back up as well. He grabbed two robots by their heads with both of his huge hands and slammed then into each other with such forced that they literally exploded. Then, making one his arms into a supersonic cannon with a single thought, he took another out with the giant, blue beam.

Meanwhile, Raven was retreating. She was not equipped for close combat. Two robots were in front of her, throwing kicks and punches. The half demon girl blocked their attacks by conjuring up black shields that materialized out of thin air, but slowly, she was being forced back towards the river. She was right at the edge of the river now. If she didn't want to fall in, she would have to do something _now_!

"Axarath, Metrion-"

"Hyaa!" Jinx threw a hex blast with all her might before Raven could finish her chant. The incandescent pink ball of light flew through the darkness and collided directly with the exotic gem stone that had always adorned Raven's forehead. There was a massive explosion where the two met right in Raven's face. Knocked unconscious immediately, Raven was flung bonelessly backwards where she landed with splash in the river. Her dead weight sunk beneath the churning, bubbling waters.

"Raven!!" Beast Boy cried, but the Titans could do nothing to help her. They were all engaged in the fight against Slade's minions. Starfire tried to disentangle herself from her opponents and fly down to her friend, but she was only met with a hex blast for her efforts. And so, as the Teen Titans fought, Raven sank further and further into the dark waters...

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"And I...I want you to help me find Amber."

Slade cupped his chin with one gloved hand, still staring at Bard with speculative eyes.

"What makes you think she isn't already dead?" He finally asked.

It felt like a needle was shoved through Bard's heart as he heard that. His face became pale and frighteningly sick.

"You mean-"

"I didn't say she is no longer with us, Bard...but then again, I never said she was, either." Slade replied coldly.

Bard's blue eyes grew stricken.

"Why are you toying with me?" He demanded, his voice crackled with anguish and anger at the same time.

"Because it is in my best interests." Slade said emotionlessly.

'_Like Hell it's in your best interests...' _A sadistic thought shot into his brain. '_How would you like to meet my dear ole daddy?'_

Bard felt his father's vicious grin at that thought. In horror, he realized that he himself had worn that same smile while fighting Slade's robots...

"You're emotions are turbulent." Slade observed. "Good, Bard. Very good."

"What are you aiming at!?"

Slade did not reply, though his one visible eye flickered down briefly to the strange symbol at his feet.

All throughout his excursion in the cabin, Bard had barely heard the murmur of the Titans' voices over the almost microscopic device in his ear. Until now, their voices had been a simple, almost inaudible buzz. But suddenly, a voice registered inside his brain with complete clarity.

"_Raven!!"_ It was Beast Boy, and his voice was filled with all kinds of shock and concern. His sister was in trouble! But if he stayed here with Slade a little bit longer he might reveal Amber's fate! The internal conflict boiled inside him. Finally, he made his decision with a curse. He drew the laser pistol he had acquired from Kitten from the holster on his hip and shot at Slade. The villain easily blocked the laser with one of the metal gauntlets on his forearm, but that was just enough time for Bard to escape through the window that the robots had entered from earlier.

Once outside, Bard literally threw himself on to his Harley, started up the engine and tore off through the forest with screeching tires and flying gravel. He had to get to Raven!

Back inside the cabin, Slade stood alone.

"The sun might not have set as much as I would like." Slade said to the empty air around him. "But it will, Bard. Mark my words, it will."

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Jonny stood on a grassy bluff, looking down with a small smile at the blinking, bright lights of the small mountain town he had grown up in. Turning away, he picked up a blanket and spread it out before him. This was going to be perfect...

"Hey, cowboy."

Jonny grinned, knowing instantly who had spoken without even having to turn around. He would recognize that sweet voice anywhere.

"Howdy, Amber." He greeted her, his day feeling complete now that he had seen her.

Jonny thought she looked even more beautiful in the moonlight than she usually did. Her skin was pale like new snow, and her long, dark black hair was a startling contrast against it that made it even more pronounced. Her eyes were such a light shade of blue that they were almost silver. The seventeen year old was a short, petite girl with subtle, sexy curves. She looked down at the blanket, thinking.

"You're not trying to seduce me, are you?" She asked playfully.

"Would I do that?" Jonny replied with an exaggerated innocence that made a bell-like laugh escape Amber's lips.

"You would if you've been listening to your friend." Amber replied a little tartly.

"Aw, c'mon." Jonny tried to defend his friend. "Tim's not _that_ bad."

Amber's expression spoke volumes.

"Stacy still won't talk to me after we went on that double date." She told him.

"I probably should have told Tim she was Catholic..." Jonny mused to himself.

"Yes, you should have!" Amber tried to say primly through her laugh.

"But enough about that." Jonny said. "Tonight's about me and you."

"All right," Amber agreed.

Jonny took her hand softly and helped her sit down on the blanket and plopped down beside her. He reached behind and put the picnic basket he had brought in his lap.

"Are you prepared for the rich, perfectly prepared delicacies I brought?" He asked mockingly.

"Give me a second." She took in a deep breath as if she steeling herself for something. "All right, let me have it!"

"Feast your eyes on sweet tea and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!"

Amber laughed again.

"Okay, how are they perfectly prepared, again?"

"Hey, I cut off the crust, didn't I?"

After they had eaten, both of them leaned back to look up at the stars. Amber used Bard's thigh as a pillow. They laid there for a long time in comfortable silence until...

"I love you," Amber finally said.

"Me, too."

Amber twisted her head on his leg to look up at her boyfriend.

"Me, too?" She asked.

"C'mon, you know what I mean!"

"But I want to hear you say it." Amber pressed. It seemed terribly important to her.

"All right, all right." Bard took in a deep breath. "I...well, uh..."

"Is it really that hard to say?" Amber demanded softly.

"I do!" Jonny assured her quickly. "It's just that, well, it's hard for me to say things like that."

"Oh," Amber expression of pure disappointment wrung at Jonny's heart.

"How 'bout I say somethin' else?" He suggested.

"Like what?"

Jonny looked up thoughtfully, absently outlining the constellation of the big dipper as he wracked his brain for a suitable replacement for those three fateful words.

"How about...'There won't be any sunsets for us'?"

Amber's brow furrowed as she analyzed that.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked.

"Haven't you ever seen those old western movies?" Bard asked her. "The main cowboy always falls in love with a pretty girl, but in the end he's forced to leave her alone and ride out into the sunset. I promise that won't ever happen to us. So: There won't be any sunsets for us."

"That's sweet," Amber smiled.

"So, that'll work?"

"For now," Amber murmured. "Now, are you going to kiss me or not? You can't say something like that to a girl without expecting to have to follow through with it!"

They kissed.

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Slade's robots weren't really a threat to the battle experienced Teen Titans, but they _were_ enough of a distraction to keep them from helping Raven. And even when one of them were occasionally able to break away from the battle to try to dash towards the river, either Jinx or Kitten would put them down hard with a hex bolt or a laser shot.

Beast Boy fought with tears in his eyes. He knew Raven needed his help, _anybody's help_, but there was nothing he could do! Twice he had broke away from the robots and tried to save her, but both times Jinx had drove him back with a well placed hex blast. Time kept ticking by inexorably. She had been under for such a long time..._Such a long time!_ And the worst part was, they had already beaten all the robots, but it seemed like that whenever one went down, two more emerged from the dark forest to take their place. Ugh!

The changeling transformed into a hawk to rip at the face of one of his opponents with sharp pinions. But with suddenly sharper hearing, a sound came to him that brought hope into his heart. It was...an engine and a guitar playing?

Beast Boy's hope was not in vain. Just then, above the tree tops, Bard's Harley was doing it's best impersonation of Peter Pan as it rocketed along on the gusts invisible winds. Bard crashed the bike hard into Jinx, then he drew the laser pistol from his side and hit Kitten in the back before either of them could react to his sudden presence.

"Where is she?" He yelled at Beast Boy, who had turned back into elf form after disposing of the robot he had been squared up against.

"In the river! She's been under for a long time!" Beast Boy called to him. "Go get her!"

With desperate, fearful eyes, Bard ran for the edge of the bank, humming the wind song so that the invisible force would propel him along even faster. He searched the dark waters below with his eyes, but saw nothing. Not even air bubbles on the surface... As fast as he could, he slung the glasses off his face and his trench coat from his body and dived into the cold water.

He opened up his eyes under water and, of course, he could see nothing in the murky water. He hummed underneath water. He wasn't exactly sure that his powers would work that way, but, thankfully, they did. A fiery ball of light appeared in the palm of his hand and illuminated the bottom of the river, but he didn't see her. Where was she?!

Bard reemerged briefly to gulp in some air, and then immediately went back down to continue his search. He dimly realized that the current was taking him further and further down river, but he assumed that it had done the same to Raven as well.

Another gulp.

Another fruitless search on the bottom.

Gulp.

Search.

Gulp.

Search.

Bard began to lose hope and tears shed from his eyes underwater ever as he continued to scour beneath the water. This wasn't fair!

But then, he saw a flash of dark purple. It was her! Her cloak had snagged onto an underwater branch and held her in place. With as much speed as his tired body could muster, he disentangled her from the branch, grabbed her and resurfaced. With help from his wind song, he was able to get her onto the bank.

But she was totally lifeless. Her skin was dangerously pale; almost bloodless. A terrible fear gripped at Bard's heart.

"Titans!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. "Help!"

Then, he put both of his hands palm down on her rib cage and began to push. Again, and again, and again... Finally, a startling amount of muddy water erupted from her pale, unfeeling lips. But she still refused to breathe or even move.

She was...gone?

Bard wept then like a broken hearted child. He cradled his sister's lifeless form, her wet hair against his equally wet cheek. Their hair mingled together. Bard's brown hair, rich and lively, and Raven's purple hair, dark and lank...

Robin was the first of the Titans to reach them, the others not far behind.

"Jinx and Kitten retreated as soon as you arrived." He announced to Bard, running up to him. "I think-"

But he froze when he saw Raven's unmoving form and heard Bard's lamenting cries. Solemnly, almost unbelievingly, he knelt down on the other side of Raven and felt for a pulse. He didn't find one.

"She's..- She's gone," he muttered, his voice barely audible.

"No!" Starfire cried, burying her face into her hands. Tears openly streaked down Beast Boy's green cheeks, and Cyborg's face was downcast and sad.

Bard, on the other hand, had suddenly became incredibly, dreadfully angry.

"No!" He cried with so much raw emotion that the others actually winced. He looked up at the starry sky with flashing eyes. "You can't do this to me! _You can't do this to me! You finally answered my prayers and led me to the only family I'll ever have...And then you rip her away from me! Why?! Why!?"_

He broke into another fit of weeping.

"_Please,"_ he prayed aloud with all his heart. He was still holding her body against him. "_Don't take her away from me! She's not ready to meet you! I'll do anything! Just, please, please, give me the power to bring her back! Just...please, give me the power... Give it to me!"_

And suddenly, a strange, enormous power streaked through Bard's arms and shot into Raven's body like electricity. Slowly, her violet eyes fluttered open and she groaned.

"A miracle!" Cyborg gasped incredulously.

But Bard didn't have time to rejoice the success. His eyes rolled back into his head and, like a tree hewn at its base, he ponderously fell to the dark, wet earth.


	16. Waking Up

_"I was not aware that Slade owned a gaudy drinking cup." - Starfire_

_**CHAPTER SIXTEEN**_

_**WAKING UP**_

Bard was still exhausted to the bone when he finally awoke. He had never used his powers so frequently in such a short period of time like he had, well, he wasn't sure when it was. Last night? And not to mention that God himself had channeled his immense power through him for the briefest of instances to revive Raven. Honestly, Bard wondered why that hadn't killed him outright. Suddenly, as the last vestiges of sleep left his brain, he realized that a small, feminine hand was warmly clutching his laxly. He opened his eyes, but, just like every other time he didn't have his glasses on, everything was a blur. He could see enough, however, to recognize he was in his room in Titans Tower. He looked over at his bedside. Starfire?

Slowly, he turned his head to look at his bedside table and reach across with trembling arms for his glasses. He slipped them on. It wasn't Starfire at his bedside, it was Raven! She had pulled up a chair to sit beside him. Now, though, she was slumped forward, resting her head on his leg. She was asleep, but even though she was, her hand had never left his. How long had she been there?

"Raven," he said softly, barely louder than a whisper. He was surprised at how dry and scratchy his throat felt. "Raven," he repeated a little louder this time, shaking her awake with one hand gently.

Raven slowly swam up out of sleep. She sat up creakily and wiped absently at her eyes before noticing that Bard was awake. She looked almost as tired as he himself felt.

"You're awake," Raven said, keeping her voice low in the silence of the room as a great worry slowly faded from her face. "Are you all right?"

"I think so," Bard nodded. "Except for the fact that I'm about as weak as a newborn hare. How long have you been sittin' there?"

"Only for a few hours," Raven answered, but Bard saw the lie on his sister's face as clearly as if it were written there on her forehead with a magic marker.

"All right," he suggested. "How 'bout I put it this way: How long have I been out?"

"Today would be the sixth day."

"Six days?!" Bard exclaimed. "And you've been in here the entire time?"

"Of course not,"

Though Bard doubted that, he let that comment go without a reply. Instead:

"You should be in bed. You're tired and I don't think you've recovered all the way."

"I almost drowned," Raven shrugged. "It's been six days since then. I'm fine now."

"There was no 'almost' about it, Raven." Bard told her firmly. "You _did_ drown."

His sister stared at him, and it was obvious that the other Titans hadn't told her the whole story of that frightening night. Hey, his name was Bard, right? Who else would be better to tell her the story?

"You better stay in that chair." Bard said. "Because you're probably not going to believe this." He took in a deep breath as he collected his thoughts. "While I was in that cabin with Slade, I heard Beast Boy yell your name over the communicator in my ear. I broke away from Slade and rode down there as fast as I could. The Titans weren't able to help because of Slade's robots and Jinx and Kitten."

"Somehow, the Titans were able to open a hole up for me so I could jump into the river and search for you." He continued. "But you had already been down there so long, and it took me forever to find you. When I finally found you and got you onto the bank, you were unconscious. I forced the water out of your lungs but..."

Even though Raven was before him now and had obviously survived, Bard still got choked up from the memory. Not for any loss, but for the fear the possibility of it had struck into his heart

"But, what?"

"You... you were dead." Bard admitted.

"I was only unconscious." Raven asserted softly.

"No," Bard contradicted, shaking his head. "Robin himself checked for a pulse and... and there wasn't one."

Raven stared.

"I started crying." Bard admitted. "And then I got angry. I started shouting at God, asking him what possible purpose taking you away would accomplish." He paused, his eyes glittering as he relived the moment. "And then, I asked him to help me; to help me bring you back. And he touched me, Raven! And that touched filtered through me down to you, and you opened your eyes. That's when I was knocked out..."

"You're letting your faith blind you." Raven chided him. "Your powers are elemental. Fire and wind and all the forces of nature. You probably just shocked my heart into beating again."

Bard shook his head obstinately.

"No," he persisted. "The power that brought you back didn't belong to me. It was God's."

"I don't believe it,"

"You don't believe God would help you?"

Raven lowered her head.

"I don't believe there is a God at all." She replied.

"What?!" Bard was shocked to the core, and deep inside, he suspected that his sister knew this reaction was coming. "But you know that Satan exists! He's your father! If you know that his presence is real, how can you doubt God's?"

"You're right," Raven murmured, standing up. "Trigon is my father. And that is exactly why I don't believe." She quietly left the room before her brother could say anything in reply to that.

Bard looked after her for a long time after she was gone. He sighed then and thought about what he had told Starfire a week or so ago. He had said he believed that life was merely a learning experience and that God had a road set out for everyone. Everything happened for a reason, Bard believed, and now he knew why Raven had almost died. The event had happened for one purpose and one purpose only: To reveal the fact that his sister had no faith.

He knew what he had to do now. He had to help Raven find her father; her _true_ father. And he would, even if he had to die to do it. Now more than ever, Bard no longer feared death. He did not welcome it, of course, but he knew with absolute conviction that it was not the end. In truth, it was really just the beginning. He would walk the road God laid out for him, and when his tasks were done, he would go home.

But something else was nagging him... On that night where he sat weeping by his sister's still form, his emotions had never been stronger. But for some reason, Trigon hadn't capitalized on the moment of weakness. Why? Now that Bard thought about it, he realized that, with the exception of the first few days when he had first found out that Trigon was his father, he hadn't lost control of his powers because of his emotions once. Why? He knew that Raven meditated several hours of each day just so she could lead some kind of semblance of normal life. And he had meditated only once, and yet he had more emotional freedom than she had ever dreamed of. Why?

But then the answer came to him. Trigon was inside him and was a part of him. That was indubitably true. But it was no less true that God was within him as well. When he had been saved several years ago, he had invited God to enter him and guide his footsteps, and he had. Somehow, his holy presence offset the presence of Trigon's evil and had reduced his power to where he could only speak with Bard. And if Raven could invite God into her heart...she would be free to experience emotion, too!

Bard knew he couldn't force faith down Raven's throat, or anyone else's for that matter. It had to something subtle, something that would open her eyes. But he had no idea what that something would be. He closed his eyes and prayed: For himself, for Raven, and for the Titans.

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The next day, Robin had gathered the Teen Titans, minus Raven, around him in the main room of the tower.

"All right," he announced to them. "Bard is going to be able to get up and move around a little today."

He held up a glove hand to silence their excited buzz. Bard was their friend and they would be extremely glad to see him up and about, of course, but even more so than that, they were all incredibly curious about exactly what had happened that night with him and Raven.

"But he's still very weak," Robin warned as he continued. "So make sure you don't crowd him and give him plenty of room to move around. Try to make him feel as comfortable as possible, and _please_ don't bombard him with questions right off the bat, all right?"

The Boy Wonder was met with three enthusiastic nods.

"All right, Raven." He called, turning towards the door leading into the room. "You can bring him in now."

Bard looked terribly weak when, heavily leaning his weight onto his sister, he hobbled into the room. He wore his customary boots, jeans and black sleeveless shirt, but his hat was conspicuous in its absence and his long brown hair, usually tied back into a pony tail, hung down to frame his still tired face. Cyborg, Beast Boy and Starfire clambered over to him quickly.

"Dude, are you sure you're all right?"

"Yeah, man you look pretty rough!"

"You did not suffer permanent injury, did you?"

Robin groaned.

"Fine! Don't follow my orders!" He declared, his voice filled with exasperation. "I'm only the _leader_ here, after all! You know, the guy trained by _Batman?_ The fearless, intelligent, handsome guy who says: Titans, go!?"

But the Titans ignored the Boy Wonder as Bard smiled at their concern for him.

"I'll live," he told them. "Now, just let me sit down and we'll talk all day long, if ya want."

The strain of holding up Bard's weight was starting to show on Raven's face, so Starfire easily took the load. Instead of letting him limp his way around, however, the Tamaranian used her alien strength to pick him up like a baby.

"I think what's left of my dignity just picked up and ran off." Bard muttered as Starfire carried him over to the couch.

"Aw, stop complainin' and sit back and enjoy it." Beast Boy suggested.

Bard chose not to disagree. Starfire laid him on the couch and, after he got comfortable, he realized that everyone was staring at him.

"Um, do I have huge zit or something?" He joked nervously. He wasn't used to being the center of attention.

"What exactly happened out there?" Surprisingly, it was Robin who proposed the question.

Bard shrugged.

"God helped me," he answered simply. He noticed that Raven had turned away at that.

"Duh!" Beast Boy exclaimed. Then, with a sly glance at Cyborg, he fell to the floor and shook all over as if he were in the fits of a seizure. "It was a m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-miracle!"

"Shut up, BB." Cyborg told him bluntly. Beast Boy had taunted his friend about his startled outburst on that night for the better part of the week. "You were thinkin' the exact same thing!"

"Pssh! Maybe, but I wasn't the one corny enough to say it!"

"..." Cyborg crossed his huge arms across his chest, fuming quietly.

"How did it go with Slade?" Robin asked, changing the subject to something more provisional. He had noticed that the so called 'miracle' had made Raven feel uncomfortable and, truth be told, it made the Boy Wonder feel the exact same way.

"Yes, Bard how did it go?" Starfire seconded.

"Not exactly the way I'd hoped." Bard admitted. "As soon as I was in, Slade decided to give me a little test. I had to fight off ten of those robots of his, and they came this close to doing me in."

"Ten robots?" Cyborg exclaimed. "C'mon, man! That's just light exercise!"

"Give me a break, Cy." Bard protested. "I'm still a new to this superhero stuff!"

"Heh, a newbie!" Beast Boy laughed.

"Enough," Robin said. "Let Bard go on with his story."

"Anyway," Bard continued. "After the robots were out of the way, Jinx and Kitten had disappeared and Slade and I talked for a while. Finally, I accepted his offer to become his apprentice, just like me and Robin talked about." He added quickly. He didn't want to give them the wrong idea.

"That didn't exactly work out, though." He went on. "When I left, it was obvious that I wasn't serious about joining him." He didn't go on to explain why he had left. Everyone already knew, and he didn't want to make his sister feel any more uncomfortable than she already was.

"Did you tell Slade we were in the gully?' Robin asked then.

"No," Bard shook his head. "Why would you ask me...oh." The river, of course!

"Then how did he know we'd be there?" Robin mused mostly to himself.

"Perhaps it was simply a fortuitous estimate?" Starfire suggested.

"Lucky guess," Raven translated in her deadpan voice.

"Maybe..." The Boy Wonder didn't seem entirely convinced. Then he shook his head and looked back up. "All right, guys, let's get Bard back to his room. He needs his rest, and it's obvious he hasn't fully recovered."

"But he just arrived!" Starfire protested with a pouty lower lip.

Robin grinned and kissed it lightly but remained adamant, even as he ignored a wolf whistle from Beast Boy.

"We can see him all later on today." He told them. "Besides, you all have feet and you know where his room is. Go to him."

Bard groaned to himself. He had a feeling he wasn't going to have very much privacy for the rest of the day.

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Bard argued emphatically to Starfire that she didn't _really_ need to carry him back to his room, but those arguments fell on deaf ears. Resigned to his fate, Bard sighed and tried to make small talk to make him feel more comfortable.

"Has Slade shown his ugly mug while I was out?" He asked.

"I do not think so," Starfire replied, her face puzzled. "I was not aware that Slade owned a gaudy drinking cup."

Bard blinked.

"I meant, has he caused any trouble?" He explained.

"Oh, no, we have not seen him since that night, nor Kitten or Jinx."

They arrived at Bard's room then, and Starfire put him on his bed.

"Are you comfortable?" Starfire asked.

"Yeah," Bard nodded. "Thank you. So, it's been quiet lately, then?"

"Mostly," Starfire told him. "We were forced to intervene in a battle of turf, however."

"Battle of turf?" Bard repeated. "You there was a gang fight?"

Starfire nodded.

"One of the groups of adolescents call themselves the Blood Hearts and always wear red bandannas." She explained. "The other gang is called Bluebloods, and their rag of choice is colored blue."

"They sure like the word 'blood', don't they?" Bard asked prosaically.

"Yes," Starfire agreed sadly. "And sometimes they spill it as well, and the reason for it confuses me. They fight a war for lands that have never belonged to them."

"You have to understand that most of the kids in those gangs have lived a very painful life," Bard said, his eyes thoughtful. "They either have a family that doesn't care, or they don't have one at all. When the happens, a lot of them want to find a new family. And so, all these kids form together into gangs. If that were the whole story, it wouldn't be a problem, but..." He paused. "But a lot of these kids have bitter feelings. Hatred, loneliness, anger. And they decided that they want to take them out on someone, and that someone is usually another gang. Actually, it's pretty stupid if you ask me. Those gangs are no different, but they hate each other. The only people in the world who could possibly understand what they're going through are the people they're trying to kill."

"That is tragic, indeed." Starfire said solemnly. "How is it that you are so knowledgeable of gang psychology?"

Well, there were gangs where I lived before coming out here." He said evasively. It wasn't exactly a lie, was it?

'**I liked you much better back then, son. You knew how to have fun.'**

_'That was hardly fun.'_

**'Why do you insist on lying to me? I've always been here, watching. Deep down, you enjoyed it, no matter how much you try to convince yourself otherwise.'**

_'Aw, shut up! You're just mad because you're about as weak as a ten year old choir boy!'_

**'...'**

_'Hehehehehe' _It felt nice to be the one laughing, for a change.

**'Don't tempt me, boy!'** His father's voice was so dark and foreboding that, even though Bard knew he was pretty much powerless, it still chilled him to the bone. He decided not to comment anymore.

"Bard, Bard?" Starfire was saying. "Are you okay?"

"What?" Bard asked, blinking.

"You, as Beast Boy says, entered an evening plane."

Bard had to think about that for several moments to piece that one together.

"You mean the twilight zone?" He asked finally.

"That is the proper pronunciation." Starfire nodded.

"Sorry," Bard apologized. "What were you saying?"

"I was commenting about my ignorance of gangs existing outside of the city."

"There are gangs in every city in the U.S."

"Oh," Starfire answered simply. Her face seemed incredibly sad.

Starfire was always, to Bard, a fiery light of hope that could never be diminished. But now, she had unknowingly showed him just how apathetic he had become. He heard about gang killings all the time. Who didn't? He didn't like the fact, but he certainly didn't overly mourn it. It was just what gangs did.

Bard didn't like that thought; It sounded like something his sister would say. He wasn't sure if it was his sister's pessimistic nature or the prospect of him becoming like her that upset him the most.

"I suppose I should let you rest, as Robin has ordered." Starfire said then.

"Thanks, Starfire." Bard nodded as she left, but his mind was on other things.

Perhaps...perhaps _he_ could do something about the gang problem here. He knew them well, since he had once been a member of one, and he was new enough to the Titans to still be anonymous. Also, he didn't think that Slade would be making an appearance anytime soon. His plan revolved around him, for some reason, and as long as he didn't spotlight himself, Slade wouldn't make a major move for a while.

Bard continued to think about that possibility as he fell asleep.


	17. Back To Da Hood

_"Your God sure is cruel to you." - Raven_

_**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN**_

_**BACK TO DA HOOD**_

Bard was still very, very weak the next day. He could walk on his own now, but he tired easily and had to stop and rest quite frequently. He wasn't up and about this morning because he longed to see his friends or because he was determined to overcome his condition. Nope, the sole reason he was up and moving around before anyone in the tower had risen was for the simple fact that he needed a cigarette like a fish needs water. He had gone all day yesterday without one of the cowboy killers, and that wasn't even counting the six days he was unconscious! His blood needed nicotine _bad_!

With only two brief rest stops, he had managed to make it to the elevator with the added help of leaning against the walls of the hallways. He thought about his condition on the way up as he barely heard the whirl of small motors around him. At least he didn't have to listen to cheesy elevator music...But back to his condition: He wasn't hurt; at least, he didn't feel any pain. He was just so tired, as if the ordeal a week ago had used every single atom of his strength inside him and his body was now trying desperately to restore it. He was brought back out of reverie as the doors opened to show the roof of Titans Tower with a soft 'ding'.

The sun hadn't really risen yet, and the silvery light that always seems to come before it covered everything. That, along with the light breeze that brought with it the tangy, salty smell of the ocean and the few wisps of fog that remained before inevitably being burnt away by the sun, created a mystical, almost surreal atmosphere. Bard liked it; it reminded him a bit of a mountain morning. But he would like a cigarette a whole lot more!

He stepped out of the elevator and quickly fumbled through his pockets for a cigarette and lighter. Finally, he was able to put a tobacco filled, cylindrical paper object between his lips and light it.

"Ah," he let out smoke in a sigh of pure contentment.

_'Man, that was good!'_

"Enjoying yourself?"

It was, of course, his sister Raven.

"Do you live up here or somethin'?" Bard asked her, chuckling quietly. For some reason, he noticed that people always seemed to speak quieter when they rose before the sun.

"..."

"All right, you don't have to answer that." He trudged slowly over to where she was floating with crossed legs a few feet off the ground.

"I'm not interrupting your meditation, am I?"

"..."

"I take that as a 'no'." Bard grinned, but then his face became serious again. "Are you sure you should be up here? I still find it pretty hard to believe that you-"

"I'm fine," Raven snapped, turning her head to stare flatly at him.

Bard blinked owlishly.

"Oh, a-a-all right," he stuttered. "I think I'm going to walk very, very, very quietly over to the other side of the roof..."

"Sorry," his sister muttered, turning away. "It's just that, I've been feeling particularly...strange, lately."

Bard stopped and looked at her, his eyes showing that he was listening intently. But Raven didn't even glance at him.

"In my mind," she was saying. "I've constructed a prison for Trigon. It's strong enough to hold him for a while, but, eventually, he is able to break free. That is why I must meditate so often, to keep that prison intact."

Bard nodded, taking another drag off of his cigarette.

"But now," Raven continued. "The prison is different. It feels like it's been reinforced by something. It's stronger now, and I don't have to meditate as often now to keep it erect." She turned to Bard and quickly raised her hand as if to silence him. "I know what you're going to say, so save your breath."

"But you know it's true!" Bard proclaimed, exhaling smoke. "God is helping you."

"Be reasonable, Bard." Raven said calmly. "I think, that somehow, I absorbed a small amount of your powers when you shocked me that night and-"

"I didn't shock you, Raven." Bard objected.

"Let me finish," Raven grated. "Like I was saying: When you shocked me that night, I absorbed some of your powers. So then when I meditated to keep the prison around Trigon standing, the extra power made it stronger."

"Do you really believe that?"

"Of course," Raven replied simply. "Anything's possible."

Bard's eyebrows raised suggestively.

"Anything?" He asked her directly.

"_Almost_ anything," Raven corrected herself.

A heartbeat.

"Why are you so afraid of God?"

"How can I be afraid of something that doesn't exist?" Raven asked pointedly.

"I don't know," Bard said candidly. "You tell me."

"This conversation isn't going anywhere." Raven told her brother. "Can you get back down okay?"

Bard nodded.

"Good, I'll see you later, then." She quietly boarded the elevator and descended.

Bard turned and looked out thoughtfully over the watery horizon where the sun would appear soon. He knew his sister well enough to know that she was at least _moderately_ open to the suggestion that there might be a God, and that was all he was really asking for right now and he certainly didn't want to pressure her. She was stubborn, (No doubt a family trait), and if he pushed her too hard, she might give up on the idea simply to prove him wrong. That was the _last_ thing he wanted to happen.

The sun appeared over the water just as he was finishing his cigarette. Bard watched the beautiful sight as he absently threw his burnt out cigarette over the edge of the roof.

"How can anyone doubt a higher power when _this_ happens every morning?" He wondered aloud to himself. Then he turned and headed back into the elevator.

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"You want to do what?" Robin asked again. Bard had caught him alone in the training room and had finally convinced him to stop beating up the punching bag for a moment so he could tell him his idea.

"You heard me." Bard said. "I can help those kids. You have to admit that they're becoming a problem."

"Not really," Robin told him.

"How many times a month do they fight?"

"I don't know, once or twice, I supposed."

"You don't call that a problem?" Bard demanded.

"The police can usually handle it." Robin shrugged.

"But I think I can stop it before it even starts." Bard persisted.

"Well, I can arrange for you to give a speech at one of the local schools." Robin suggested. "You can warn them about the dangers in being in a gang and-"

"Half the kids in those gangs don't even _go_ to school, Robin." Bard objected. "You have to reach them on their own turf."

"And you want to go undercover to do that?"

Bard nodded.

"No offense, Bard." Robin said, looking over the cowboy speculatively. "But you don't really look like gang material. Not to mention you're nowhere near healed enough to go out."

"I can get a disguise! And I wasn't planning on doing this today."

"You really want to do this, don't you?" Robin asked, seeing the resolve in his friend's eyes.

Bard nodded again.

"All right," Robin gave in with a sigh. "You can do it. I'll go to the mall today and pick up some more suitable clothes for you. While I'm doing that, get someone to cut your hair. Cyborg will probably do it for you-"

Bard's eyes had widened.

"I am _not_ cutting my hair!"

Robin almost took a step back at how vehement the cowboy had said that.

"All right," he said instead. "I guess I can get you a cap or something. Oh, and there's one small catch."

"What is it?"

"Beast Boy has to go with you."

"Beast Boy?" Bard asked. "What for?"

"What else? To keep an eye on you, of course."

Then the Boy Wonder turned back around and once again resumed his assault on the punching bag.

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_'This is __**so**__ not me!' _Bard complained inwardly.

He was in his room two mornings later, looking in profound disgust at his reflection in a full length mirror. He had on a pair of dark blue jeans that were three sizes too big and would have sagged down to his butt had he not put on a belt to keep them up around his waist where they _belonged_.

Next, he had on an oversized red t-shirt with the name 'Tommy Hilfiger' across the chest in bold, black letters. Bard had no idea whose name that belonged to, but the name sounded a little...gay to him.

A heavy, silver chain was around his neck with the word 'bling' wrote in cursive as the metal pendant. What the hell was 'bling'? Was it the sound a ringing phone made underwater or something?

The thing that upset him the most about the assemble, however, was the hat that Robin had absolutely insisted that he wear backwards. What was the point in wearing a cap backwards, anyway? Was it to keep the sun out of the eyes in the back of your head? But even worse than that, the front, (Or what was _supposed_ to be the front, anyway), was adorned with the stylized symbol of the New York Yankees.

_He hated the Yankees._

On the other hand, the most unoffending part of the outfit were the shoes. True, they certainly didn't beat his cowboy boots in any shape, form, or fashion, but they _were_ comfortable. Robin had told him that the white tennis shoes were 'Air Force Ones', and, while Bard hadn't known that the military was in the shoe business, it certainly explained their outrageous price. Over a hundred dollars! If Bard ever paid over a hundred dollar for any article of clothing, it had _better_ have a TV in it, or something!

Reluctantly, Bard drug himself into the main room, since Beast Boy had absolutely refused to meet him in his room. What was up with that? The green changeling probably only wanted to see Bard humiliate himself in front of everybody.

_'I __**am **__going to get revenge for this' _Bard thought sourly to himself.

**'That's my boy!'**

That made Bard's mood even more sour. He hadn't exactly recovered fully from his ordeal, but he had recovered enough. He could function normally, but he would be running any marathons anytime soon.

Beast Boy was the first person to see him when he walked into the main room.

"Check out Bard!" He laughed heartily in his high-pitched voice, clutching his sides. "He's _stylin'_ and _profilin'! Woo!"_

"All right, Ric Flair." Bard muttered derisively. "Get all the laughs out now."

But Beast Boy had stopped.

"Dude, you like wrestling?" He asked in shock.

"Doesn't everybody?"

"Pssh! Everyone around here hates it 'cept for me and Cy." Beast Boy admitted. "They don't know _real_ athleticism and entertainment when they see it. Hey! Did you see that match when The Rock-"

But he was interrupted by Cyborg's deep, hysterical chuckle as he walked in behind them through the same door Bard had just used.

"Hahhaha! Wuz up, dawg?!" Cyborg asked Bard, still laughing. "Wuz up on the West Syyyyyyyde?" He help up a hand to hi-five former cowboy ghetto style, but Bard simply looked at him flatly.

"I hate the Yankees."

Cyborg blinked.

"You hate the Yankees, man!?" He asked disbelievingly, using his normal voice again. "C'mon, man! They kick butt! They did win the World Series last year, ya know? They beat the snot out of that other team. What are they called again?"

"..."

Just then, Starfire made an appearance. She froze dead in her tracks when she saw Bard.

"Bard!" She exclaimed, bringing her hands up to her mouth. "You look -heheheheh- a little different - hehehehe -this morning!"

Bard groaned. Even Starfire was laughing at him!

"I hate the Yankees." Bard repeated.

"Who are the Yankers?"

Robin came in next. He looked at Bard calmly, trying his best not to laugh.

"You're a little shorter without your boots." Robin observed.

"I'm only up to Cyborg's nose now." Bard said dryly. "What are you up to now, his knees?"

Robin blinked.

"What's put you in such a bad mood?" He demanded.

"_I hate the Yankees._"

Raven was the last to enter and see him. She stared at him for a long time, then a small smirk graced the delicate features of her face.

"Your God sure is cruel to you." She deadpanned finally.

"_I __**hate**__ the __**Yankees!**_"

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"So," The fat, bald man asked them. "You want to be a part 'o' da Ragin' Dragons, eh?"

Both Tim and Jonny nodded.

"We don't 'cept no slackas." The man warned them. "You work for whatcha git 'round here!"

"We're be the best you'll ever have." Jonny told him confidently. Tim grinned in agreement.

"Hmph, we'll see." He turned and started walking away across the big, wooden warehouse, scratching absently at one armpit. "Folla me."

The greasy, unhealthy looking man with a cast eye that was out of line with its companion led them into a kind of training room with a blue mat, punching bags and some antique looking workout equipment. He pointed at a huge, black bearded man with evil looking eyes who stood on the mat.

"All ya gotta do is beat 'im," he told Jonny and Tim. "And ya git to be a part 'o' the Ragin' Dragons."

"That's all?" Tim asked. "This'll be a piece of cake. I'll be back in a sec."

Tim stood across from the black bearded man as the two eyed each other warily. Tim, even though he had just turned sixteen, was a big, muscular guy who seemed to have muscles in places where most people didn't have places. With a grunt, he ran forward and grappled with the man.

They stayed like that for a moment in the struggle of strength, but then, with a mighty shove, the bearded man pushed Tim back. Again they grappled, and again Tim was pushed back. The third time they grappled, however, Tim changed tactics. When the man leaned forward to push him away again, he ducked and, using his own momentum against him, he easily flipped him over. As soon as he was grounded, Tim had throttled his opponent and wrapped his hands around his throat.

"Dat's enough!" The greasy man barked. "Good job, ya be in."

Tim grinned.

"Now, let's see if ya friend can do da same?"

It was Jonny's turn. Although he knew he wasn't a weakling when it came to pure strength, he knew for certain that both he and his opponent knew he couldn't lock up with this guy and win a power struggle...Or did they?

The first part of the match was exactly identical to Tim's. Jonny ran forward and grappled with the man. And, of course, the bearded man easily pushed him back. Again they grappled, and again the man pushed him back with ease. Jonny ran forward as if to grapple one last time, but he stopped short. He reared back his right cowboy boot and...

"Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"

The man fell to his knees, screaming like a little girl. Jonny couldn't blame him, of course, since he had just solidly planted his foot in the man's groin, after all.

The fat, cast-eyed man was laughing uproariously.

"Good show, good show!" He exclaimed, still laughing. "I tink I'ma gonna like ya! Now, c'mon and we'll go git dem tattoos on ya!"

"No one said anything about no tattoos!" Tim objected.

"Don't be a baby, man. C'mon" Jonny told him.

In an adjoining room, the cast-eyed man picked up an electronic needle and turned to Tim.

"So, where da ya want it?"

"Right here on my second biggest muscle." Tim grinned.

"Aight, I have ta ask. What's yer biggest muscle?"

"Right here between my legs, my man!"

"Heh, shoulda known dat wuz comin'..."

Jonny watched as the man tattooed Tim's right bicep. When it was done, he looked more closely at it.

"An 'S'?" He asked, slightly puzzled.

"Yup," the man said. "Now, where do ya want yers?"

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Not long later, Beast Boy and Bard were in the garage. Without any preamble, Bard mounted his Harley, then turned to Beast Boy.

"You comin' or what?"

Beast Boy stared at him.

"There's no way I'm getting on that thing with you!" The changeling protested. "I don't wanna look gay, or nothin'!"

"Too late for that," Bard muttered. He was obviously still in a bad mood. He _hated_ these clothes...

"What!?"

"If we don't take my bike, then how are we gonna get to Downtown?" Bard asked, ignoring that.

"We'll take the T-Car!"

"You have the keys?" Bard asked.

"The T-Car starts by voice recognition." Beast Boy explained. "It was stolen once, so Cyborg made a few modifications."

"Cyborg programmed it to respond to _your_ voice?" Bard said incredulously.

"Yep," Beast Boy nodded, grinning from ear to ear.

"How in the world did you get him to do that?"

"I blackmailed him." Beast Boy winked at him slyly.

"With what?"

"It wouldn't be much of a blackmail if I told you." The green changeling pointed out.

"Okay, let's-"

"He ordered a pay-per-view event a couple of months ago." Beast Boy admitted. "You know, where Triple H and Shawn Michaels..." He stopped. "Hey, has anyone ever told you you look kinda like Shawn Michaels?"

"..."

"Ya know, The Heartbreak Kid! The Showstoppa! The Main Event! The Icon!"

"..."

"Ya know, he's kinda religious like you. He's got a shirt that says 'The Source of Strength" and a picture of the cross on it. And it's black, so if you're anything like your sister, it's your favorite color, right? It kinda reminds me of-"

"Just - get - in - the - car!" Bard grated from between clenched teeth.

"Dude, you've been hanging out with Raven _way_ too much!"

"..." He glared.

"All right, all right, I'm goin'!"

Beast Boy, since he wasn't old enough to drive, sat shotgun and Bard got behind the wheel. He looked over at Beast Boy expectantly.

"T-Car, start!" The hyper changeling said, proud of himself.

The engine hummed to life.

"Now," Bard asked. "How do you open the garage door?"

"That red button over there." Beast Boy told him, pointing across the room.

"Go push it."

"Pssh! I'm too comfortable."

Grounding his teeth together, Bard unbuckled himself, climbed out of the car and pushed the button. The door raised and he got back behind the wheel, buckled up again and hit the gas.

**VRRROOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!**

This thing had more horsepower than Bard had thought.

"Whoa!" Beast Boy exclaimed in surprise.

**SCCCRRRRREEEEEECCCCCHHHH!**

Bard had hit the brakes abruptly and Beast Boy had been flung haphazardly against the windshield.

"Ow!" Beast Boy groaned. "Kill me next time, why don'tcha?"

"You should have been wearing your seat belt." Bard told him happily.

"All right, all right," Beast Boy grumbled. "Just give me a second to-"

**VRRRRRROOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!**

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! Beast Boy screamed, holding on for dear life.

Bard grinned sadistically.

_'Told you I'd get my revenge!'_

**'And boy, isn't it sweet?'**

_'Didn't I tell you to shut up?' _Jonny retorted back at his father grumpily.

**'Many times,'**

_'Are you ever going to do it?'_

**'Probably not,'**

_'Pssh...shut up.'_


	18. Just Like Old Times

"_**Dude! Not that much rhythm! You look like James Brown on crack!"**__**- Beast Boy**_

_**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN**_

_**JUST LIKE OLD TIMES…**_

"Dude, dude, _dude!_" Beast Boy panted breathlessly, his small, green face frightened. "Pull the car over here!"

"What for?" Bard demanded, though his eyes remained firmly glued on the road.

"Well, besides the fact that I'm _this close_ to wettin' myself, don'tcha think- Ahhhh!" Beast Boy screamed, interrupting himself. He held on to his seat for dear life as Bard made a tight turn at an insane speed. After taking a moment to catch his breath:

"All right, like I was saying _before_ you tried to kill me," he started again. "Don'tcha think that the gangs around here will get just a _little_ suspicious if they see they T-Car? Ya know, the vehicle the _Teen Titans_ ride around in?"

Bard blinked. He hadn't thought of that.

**SSSCCCCCRRRREEEECCCCHHHH!**

"Oof!"

Bard unbuckled his seatbelt, all the while casting a smug look at the bruised and battered Beast Boy. But then he stopped. He was a Christian, not to mention a superhero in training. Bard knew he wasn't a role model, the _Lord_ knew he wasn't a role model, but he should at least _try_ to behave, right? He glanced over at Beast Boy.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"Ugh...what?"

"Sorry," Bard repeated, a little louder this time.

Beast Boy stared at the disguised cowboy as if he had suddenly grown a second hand.

"You're apologizin' to _me?!_" He asked as if he were shocked by the possibility.

Bard slowly nodded.

"Dude!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "No one ever apologizes to me! Well, okay, maybe once or twice, but still! It's still a special occasion!"

Bard had never considered himself a smart man, but, for some unknown reason, he was suddenly touched with a keen insight then. Beast Boy was the jokester; the little brother of the Titans. Bard had always known that. But now he saw that no one ever really realized how young or vulnerable the changeling was. Without meaning to, sometimes they all took out their frustrations on him. And Beast Boy's personality was just so outrageous that it was hard to see that sometimes those verbal lashings took their toll on the little green man.

Bard's psyche was assaulted by guilt.

"I have been told that I look like Shawn Michaels." He answered Beast Boy's long forgotten question. "We're about the same height and build and we both have long, brown hair. Plus, the religion thing. That might be part of the reason he's my favorite wrestler." He paused. "So, who's your favorite?"

Beast Boy looked surprised, and Bard wasn't sure if it was because he had answered the question or if it was because he had asked one himself that didn't immediately involve Titan business. Beast Boy, as quick as ever, recovered in an instant.

"I gotta go with The Rock!" Beast Boy's face scrunched up as he tried to raise one of his dark green eyebrows. "If you smellllllll-la-la-la-lallll what the Rock is cookin'!"

Bard laughed at the crazy antic. He felt better than he had all day.

**BEEP! BEEP!**

Robin's masked face appeared on the small, LCD screen in the dashboard.

"Bard, Beast Boy,"

"We're here." Bard answered.

"Where are you?"

"On the outskirts of Downtown. On-" He glanced out the window of the T-Car in search for a street sign. When he saw it, he snickered and glanced at Beast Boy. "Jabroni Street."

Beast Boy began to laugh hysterically, and, though their leader looked confused, Robin waited patiently until he was done.

"I'm sending Raven down there to help out," Robin told them after Beast Boy had finally quieted down.

Bard thought about that. That would only leave Robin, Starfire and Cyborg at the tower...

"Where's Cy?" Beast Boy asked as if he were thinking the exact same thing.

"Uh," Robin scratched the back of his neck nervously. "He said he was having a glitch in his sonic cannon. He's in his lab fixing it."

"That'll probably take a while," Beast Boy mused.

"And it'll also leave you and Starfire all alone." Bard added almost accusatorially.

"Well, yes, that is a coincidence, isn't it?" Robin coughed nervously.

Bard shook his head. Robin was probably the best liar and negotiator on the Titans team...when it came to dealing with criminals. Bard had heard the stories of how the Boy Wonder had talked the Titans out of quite a few tight spots where pure force simply wouldn't work. With his friends, however, Robin was as transparent as glass.

"Yeah, what a coincidence!" Beast Boy drawled sarcastically.

"Ahem, yes, quite. Raven should meet you there soon."

"Have fun," Beast Boy tried to say, but the LCD screen had already gone black. Shrugging off the failure, he turned to look at Bard with serious eyes.

"What?" Bard asked defensively.

"You know what,"

"It's cool." Bard told him. "I've been thinkin' about it, and I know that me and Starfire...well, we, you know, it's cool." He ended lamely with a shrug.

"Riiiiiight," Beast Boy paused for a moment, his eyes thinking. "Ya know, I kinda know what you're goin' through."

Bard looked at him curiously.

"Well, there was this girl once." He went on. "And we were close. Real close. But...she wasn't exactly what I thought she was, so..."

The changeling had left it hanging, but Bard got his drift. Sometimes he had to remind himself that he wasn't the only guy in the world to ever lose someone.

"So, anyway!" Beast Boy exclaimed as if that solemn tone had never been uttered from his lips. "That pay-per-view Cyborg ordered - I think it was called Bad Blood - the main even was Shawn Michaels and Triple H in a Hell in the Cell! Those are always brutal! Did you know there's only been ten of them in the whole history of wrestling?"

"Anyway," The changeling continued before Bard could answer, his voice excited. "Near the end of the match, HBK - that's Shawn Michaels, but if he's you favorite wrestler, you probably already know that…Uh, where was I again?"

"The end of the match," Bard supplied helpfully.

"Oh, right! At the end of the match, HBK had hit that big side kick of his, The Sweet Chin Music, and Triple H had hit his finishing move, the Pedigree and both of them were laid out in the ring in a pool of there own blood! And then-"

"For a supposedly woman-loving man, you sure do talk about men in underwear a lot."

Both Bard and Beast Boy jumped.

"Raven!" The latter exclaimed in surprise. Bard's sister had teleported into the back seat of the T-Car via her dark energy.

"Do you suppose we could get on with this?" She demanded.

"Right, right," Bard agreed quickly. "So, uh, how did you want to do this?"

Both Beast Boy and Raven stared at him.

"Dude, you don't have a plan?"

"Naw," Bard admitted. "I'm just kinda makin' it up as I go along." He took in a deep breath. "Okay, this is how we'll do it. Raven will stay here with the T-Car, just in case we need to make a quick getaway and keep in contact with me and Beast Boy. Beast Boy, you're coming with me for surveillance and to cover my tail feathers in case I goof up."

"Robin was right," Raven observed. "You were a leader."

Bard merely shrugged.

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Bard was walking down the sidewalk that led into Downtown Jump City, and he noticed that it was quite different. The colors seemed drained here; everything seemed to be in black and gray and white. And the sounds were different, too: Crying babies, yelling women and sirens in the distance. And the buildings were old and in bad condition. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a suspicious black kid about his own age standing conspicuously on the side of the street, his hand inside his baggy coat suggestively. Bard shook his head. It was so…bleak here.

"_Dude!_" Beast Boy said to him through the communicator in his ear. The green changeling was following a top the rooftops, changing into a bird when the need arose. "_Don't walk like that! Walk slower, and slump a little bit! Just relax!_"

Bard tried that.

"_You look like you're sick, or something'! Put your hands really deep in your pockets and remember you're supposed to be cool! Put some rhythm in your step!_"

Bard followed his friends suggestions, and was almost immediately assaulted by his high-pitched laughter at his efforts.

"_Dude! Not that much rhythm! You look like James Brown on crack!"_ A pause. "_Hey, turn left here. There's a guy with a red bandanna sitting on the steps._"

Bard did that. He saw the guy as soon as he turned the corner. Just like Beast Boy had said, he had a red bandanna wrapped around his forehead and, beneath that, he had on a pair of dark, mirrored sunglasses. He was dressed in much the same way Bard himself was dressed, and the disguised cowboy wonder why anyone would dress like that intentionally. Last but not least, Bard noticed that the kid had a homemade cigarette in his hand. At least, Bard _hoped _that's what it was.

"'Sup," The guy asked Bard when he had gotten closer, and he realized that this gang member was about the same age as Beast Boy.

"Howdy," Bard replied automatically.

"_Howdy! No!"_

Meanwhile, the kid was staring at Bard.

"Pssh!" Bard covered himself as well as he could. "I was just shittin' ya, man!"

"_Hey, you just cussed, man!"_

"_Leave him alone, Beast Boy."_ It was Raven. _"He's undercover, remember?"_

Meanwhile, Bard had clapped hands with the gang member ghetto style and had taken a seat on the concrete steps beside him.

"You wanna puff off this?" The gang member asked him generously. The object he held in his hand was _definitely_ not a cigarette.

"What if they cops come?"

"Man, ain't no pigs got the balls to fk with me!"

"_Oh, my poor, innocent, virgin ears!"_

"_That's not the only part of you that's virgin."_

"_Hey! Are you implyin'-"_

"_I imply nothing. Now be quiet!"_

"Damn, hogs." Bard was saying in agreement to his new 'friend'.

The young Blueblood burst out laughing.

"I like you, dawg! You be funny!"

Bard sweat dropped.

"Anyway, you gonna take a hit off this or what?"

Bard didn't really have any choice. He reached out and took the joint, brought it to his lips and pulled mightily.

"Dammmmn! You hittin dat shit like a pro!"

"_He didn't even cough!_

"_Of course not, he does smoke." _A pause. _"Didn't I tell you to be quiet?"_

"_Eep!"_

"So, what's you name, man." Bard asked as he exhaled smoke and passed the joint back.

"Shades," he answered, tapping his sunglasses with his free hand. "What 'bout you?"

Bard had to think fast.

"_Cool Breeze!"_

"_Uh….Ice Tray?"_

"Double J," Bard came up with on his own. Hey, if the wrestler could get away with 'Triple H', he could get away with 'Double J', right?

"I ain't never seen ya 'round 'ere before." Shades observed though slightly glazed eyes. "You new 'round 'ere?"

"Yup," Bard nodded. "And I'm looking to join the Bloody Hearts."

Shades looked at him warily.

"What for?"

"I heard the Bloody Hearts were the baddest gang in town." Bard told him. "Plus, some of those damn Bluebloods tried to attack my sister. I managed the beat the three of'em off, though."

"You took out three Bloods?" Shades seemed impressed.

Bard nodded.

"Maybe we could use you after all." Shades paused. "So, ya sister hot?"

"She looks like Janet Jackson." Bard said. "'Cept for the fact that she's 'bout two hundred pounds heavier than she is." He added blandly.

"Dammmmmmn!"

"_Hhahahahahahahahaha!"_

"_Quiet!"_

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Jonny furiously reached out, grabbed a handful of shirt and angrily jerked Big D forward to where they were face to face.

"What in the _blue hell_ did you think you were doing back there?!" Jonny demanded harshly from their place in a back alley. Tim and two other boys were standing around them.

"Relax man, I was only havin' some fun!"

"Fun?!" Jonny barked, his eyes bulging dangerously. "_Fun?!_ You call trying to rape that guy's daughter _fun!?"_

"She knew she wanted it!" Big D protested with a sickening grin.

If he could have, Bard would have ground his teeth in to powder.

"You compromised the mission! All we had to do it get in, get the money and get out! You could've gotten us caught with that stupid stunt of yours, not to mention I think rape is about the most vile thing a man can do to someone else."

"What are you, a god damn priest or something?" Big D retorted. "You're forgettin' that _I'm_ the headmaster here. You follow my orders!"

A terrible glint entered Bard's blue eyes.

"That's gonna change right now." He said in a frightfully quiet voice. "The first rule of the Ragin' Dragons is that you can challenge for the role of headmaster at any time. I challenge you now."

"Aw, shit!" Tim breathed. The other two looked suitably surprised.

Big D's eyes widened, but then he smirked.

"All right, fine! It's time I shut you up anyway."

He reached underneath his coat and brought out a length of rope and a wicked looking dagger. Bard lifted his jean leg and pulled a similar knife out of his boot. When all was ready, Bard lunged at his opponent with a scream of rage and anger.

"Arrrrrrrrrrrr!"

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To no surprise of Bard's, Shades had led him to a rickety and old abandoned warehouse. Did all gangs hang out in warehouses? Unlike the other gang hangouts Bard had seen before, however, this one looked like one giant training room; the main room of it, at least. Bard figured that business was conducted in the back rooms.

The place was covered by a huge, blue mat and perhaps a hundred red bandanna wearing kids were there. Some were sparring, some were stretching or working out, and some were simply lounging about. Shades pulled him through the throng of people.

"I'ma take ya to da boss, JJ." He threw back over his shoulder.

Ahead of them, Bard saw that there was a balcony over looking the room. When Shades judged he was close enough:

"Clan Master!" He called up at the balcony. "I've got someone ya might wanna meet!"

"Bring him up," came the reply.

A shock of recognition bit into Bard's brain when he heard that voice. He could have sworn he had heard it somewhere before…

Shades led him up the steps to the balcony. At the top, someone was sitting in a high-backed chair that faced away from them. Shades went to it.

"This is Double J." He said. "I heard he took out three Bloods."

"Three Bloods, huh?" The familiar voice repeated. "Well, let's take a look at this badass you've managed to find."

Bard got his first good look at him then and his pupils dilated. He was a big, muscular guy around his own age with pale skin, shaggy brown hair, and a dark red beard that jutted out at an angle from his chin.

"Jon?" The man asked incredulously.

Despite his shock, Bard slowly and imperceptibly removed the communicator from his ear, dropped on the ground and stepped on it with on of his Air Force Ones. Then, a slow, surprised smile crossed his face.

"Tim?"

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Meanwhile, both Beast Boy and Raven got nothing but static over Bard's frequency.

"_Beast Boy, are you in contact with Bard?"_

"_Nope, you?"_

"_Negative. It looks like something went wrong. We have to go in there and get him."_

"_Wait a sec, I can still see him!"_

"_What is he doing?"_

"_He's talkin' to some big muscle freak with a really weird beard…oh! That's just wrong!"_

"_What?"_

"_Their huggin'!"_

"_Tell me, does homosexuality scare you so much?"_

"_Pssh! No! And, hey! Are you trying to say Bard's gay?"_

"_No, I was-" _She stopped. _"Just keep me informed, all right?"_

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"Why in the hell do you have those damn clothes on?" Tim was asking Bard with a disbelievingly look on his face.

"It's a long story," Bard muttered sourly.

"I bet it is," Tim said. "It would take a _very_ long time for _anyone_ to get you into those clothes!" He paused. "Why did you pick and take off two years ago?" He asked seriously.

"I-" Bard stopped. "Can we talk in private for a second?"

Tim shook his head.

"It's against the rules."

Bard blinked.

"But you're the boss, right? Change the rules."

"No," Tim disagreed. "I'm only _one_ of the bosses, and only fellow Bloody Hearts can see us privately. As a matter of fact," Tim continued on in a conspiratorially whisper. "I'm not supposed to be talkin' to ya at all."

"Well, that works out, I guess." Bard shrugged. "I wanted to be a part of the Bloody Hearts anyway."

"Right on!" Tim approved enthusiastically. "It'll be just like old times!"

Bard decided not to comment on that.

"And after you're a Bloody Heart," Tim continued. "I'm gonna go out and buy you some cowboy boots and a hat! I can't believe you didn't shoot yourself before putting those things on."

"I thought about it." Bard admitted with a grin, but then his face grew more serious. "So, exactly how do I join the Bloody Hearts?" He absently lit up a cigarette.

"See you haven't quit those yet." Tim commented slyly.

"Have _you_ quit drinking?"

"Nope,"

"Then shut up!"

Tim laughed, but then looked Bard dead in the eye.

"Well, to get into the Bloody Hearts…" He stopped. "Well, you never liked it much, but you _were_ damn good at it."

Bard's eyes widened as he realized what his old friend was referring to.

"You don't mean…"

Tim nodded grimly.

"Slash Clash," He confirmed.

Bard's heart sank.

'**Hehehehehehe. The blood will fly again! I can hardly wait…'**

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Ten minutes later, Bard found himself in the middle of the blue mat with all those kids gathered around him, hoopin' and hollerin'. Across from him was a light-skinned black kids perhaps a year or so younger than him. A 'referee' was tying a piece of five foot rope around his left wrist.

"Bloody Hearts!" Clan Master Tim announced to the throng below him in a huge voice. "We are about to have a friendly game of Slash Clash to find out which of these two are worthy of becoming Bloody Hearts!"

The crowd cheered.

"For those of you who don't know the rules:" A skinny, bushy haired guy read from a piece of paper beside Tim. "Both combatants are armed with knives and are tied together by their wrists with a five foot long piece of rope. They both most hold their knives in the slash position at _all_ times. Whoever slashes the other three times first wins. Thrusting is illegal, and whoever attempts to do so will be automatically eliminated."

Bard sweat as the crowd around him reached a fevered pitch. He didn't really want to hurt this guy, but, then again, he didn't want _himself_ to be hurt, and it had been a long time since he'd done this. But what else could he do to be accepted here? He realized that he was in over his head…

**CRASH!**

A huge, green triceratops charged through the wall, followed by the levitating, black glowing form of his sister Raven.

"The Titans!" Someone gasped. Everyone in the place turned to gape in astonishment, including Bard. Everyone except Bard's opponent. Seeing the opportunity to take out his competition while no one was looking, he lunged forward with his knife.

The blade sank down to the hilt inside Bard's body.


	19. Loss

"_**We have to tell him. He deserves to know…whatever the outcome." - Robin**_

_**CHAPTER NINETEEN**_

_**LOSS**_

Bard noticed everything at once. The stagnant smells of old wood, human sweat, and just a barely perceptible whiff of marijuana assaulted his nose. Shouts, gasps, outside traffic, wailing sirens and scurrying footfalls reached his ears. He saw that his sister Raven and, in the form of a triceratops, Beast Boy had arrived on the scene and that many of the younger and newer recruits of the Bloody Hearts were fleeing from the two heroes. However, a surprising amount of them held their positions against the two teenage superheroes and looked ready to fight. They must have been well-trained…But then again, his old friend Tim _was_ their leader, after all. _His old friend._ He didn't want to think about that right now.

But what Bard noticed the most was the searing, flaming pain in his clavicle. At least, that what he thought it was. He had never been too good with anatomy. Nevertheless, a blade was buried to the hilt somewhere between his left collar bone and left shoulder.

_And. It. Hurt. Like. Hell._

"Ahhhhhrrrgh!" Bard made his pain vocal with a loud, animal-like scream, but his voice was lost in all the confusion around him.

The disguised cowboy turned wildly and locked eyes with his attacker. The old Bard, no, the old _Jonny_ would have probably immediately leapt onto the boy and beat him senseless, if not worse. But he wasn't Jonny anymore. He wasn't the desperate, orphaned, sixteen year old lost soul. He was Bard, the God-fearing superhero. And he was looking through different eyes now.

The boy hadn't really meant to do it, Bard could see as clear as day. His eyes were wide with fright and his cinnamon-colored face had paled a bit. This boy was just another lost soul looking for a place to belong and, seeing that 'Double J' might rob him of the opportunity, he had attacked without thinking to remove that threat. But now, seeing what he had done, Bard could tell that the boy wished he could rewind time.

"Go," Bard grunted at him through his pain. "Get out of here!"

The boy was still frozen, his wide eyes staring at him unseeingly.

"I said go!" Bard repeated with growl. "_Now!"_

The boy broke out of his petrified state and fled.

While this exchange was going on, Beast Boy and Raven had been in battle. Raven had used her powers to pick up a nearby punching bag and fling it into a tightly knitted group of gang members. Beast Boy, on the other hand, had transformed into a huge, five hundred pound emerald gorilla. Instead of punching with his now massive arms that would have probably killed ten of them in one swing, he simply lifted them up and effortlessly threw them through the air to land hard on the mat; Painful, to be sure, but hardly life threatening.

Tim, seeing that his men were outmatched, leapt down from the balcony and landed heavily in a half crouch with a muffled grunt. Then, with as much speed as he could muster, he ran full tilt at the green gorilla with his awesomely muscled right hand reared back for a heavy blow.

**SMACK!**

Beast Boy hadn't even seen it coming. The massive punch hit him directly on the jaw. The giant gorilla stumbled once, twice, and then feel heavy on his rear end. His concentration broke from the blow, Beast Boy reverted into elf form. While the green changeling was still shaking the cobwebs out, Tim easily reached down and lifted him over his head by the front of his black and purple outfit.

"How do you like it?" Tim muttered to him before effortlessly tossing the extremely light weight halfway across the room. Beast Boy landed hard on the mat.

Meanwhile, Raven, who was levitating perhaps five feet off the ground, had conjured up an enormous hand of obsidian energy to bat away any of the attackers that got too close. Tim, on surprisingly stealthy feet for someone his size, crept up behind the dark sorceress. When he judged that he was close enough, he laced his fist together, raised them over his head and leapt high into the air. When he was right above her floating form, he smashed down with all his strength, sending her careening into the ground.

"Superpowers are overrated." Tim smirked once he had landed.

"Tim, stop it!" Bard shouted, trying to stagger over to him even as he clutched the hilt in his shoulder tightly.

Tim wheeled on him with dangerous, flashing green eyes.

"Stop it? _Stop it!?"_ He roared. "You're the one who betrayed _me!_"

"But-" Bard's mouth clamped closed. What could he say?

But the momentary distraction his outburst had caused allowed Beast Boy to climb to his feet. He stomped determinedly in front of Tim, his usually carefree face stony.

"What are you gonna do, little man?" Tim laughed.

He stopped laughing, however, when he realized he was face to face with a titanic, green Tyrannosaurus Rex. The T-Rex whipped his tail around, slamming it into Tim and sending him flying through one of the outer walls, trailing dust. Seeing their leader defeated, those still able to run did so. A dozen or so inert or groaning bodies remained littered on the floor.

Beast Boy and Raven ran over to Bard and ducked their heads under his shoulders to help support him.

"My arm is what's hurt." Bard told them. "I can walk fair enough."

"Dude, are you all right?" Beast Boy asked with concern, ignoring his comment.

"You mean besides the fact that there's a knife stuck in me?" Bard tried to smile sarcastically, but it came much more like a grimace. "Besides that, I'm peachy keen."

"We need to get him back to the tower." Raven said. "That wound needs to be tended to."

"_Not quite yet, Titans."_

"Slade?" The three gasped at almost the exact same time.

But not in the flesh. A huge screen was descending from the rafters of the place. And, of course, Slade's black and brown form was on it.

"_You are much smarter than I had previously thought, Bard. I assumed that you would simply idle your time away at Titans Tower until I contacted you all again. But attacking the Bloody Hearts accomplishes nothing."_

"You're behind the Bloody Hearts?" Bard demanded. "What for?"

"_Hmmm, you disappoint me, Bard. My influence is much larger than that. I own the other gangs here in the city as well, not to mention… Oh my, it seems as if it is time for you to leave."_

"Hey, buster! We're not leaving until you tell-" Beast Boy was interrupted by the huge, flashing numbers that appeared over Slade's face. "Eep! Okay, I'm man enough to admit I've been proven wrong!"

_**15.…..14.….13**_

"We have to go now!" Raven said.

Bard looked in horror at the unconscious kids.

"But-"

"There's no time! Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

_**6.…5.…4**_

"Wait!"

A dark hole appeared beneath the three of them and they sank into it like quicksand. A moment later, they found themselves in the T-Car. Beast Boy was in the passenger seat, Bard was in the driver's seat and Raven was in the back.

**BOOM!**

Then, Bard's face paled when realization struck him, and it wasn't entirely from blood loss.

"Those kids," he said in shock. "They-"

"Are safe," Raven panted. She was sweating and breathing heavily.

"What?"

"They're safe." Raven repeated tiredly. "I was able to teleport them to the next street."

"Raven rocks! She's Raven, she's cool, she's Raven, take you to school-" Beast Boy sing-songed.

"Enough!" Raven declared. "We have to get Bard back to the tower."

"Dude, are you gonna be able to drive back?" Beast Boy asked him.

"I'm gonna have to," Bard replied. "Raven's too drained, and there's _no way_ I'm letting _you_ get behind the wheel."

Beast Boy crossed his arms sulkily.

"Maybe in a couple years," Bard conceded. "Now, you gonna start this thing up, or what?"

"T-Car, start."

The engine hummed to life.

"Thank you,"

"Hey, you're not gonna drive all crazy like you did on the way over here, are ya?"

"Sorry, B, but I've got to hurry up and get this thing checked out."

"All right," Beast Boy conceded. "Just give more than two seconds this time to-"

**VRRRRROOOOOOOMMMMM!**

"That was more than two seconds, right?" Bard tried to grin, but once again it came out as a grimace.

"Ha, ha. You're a real riot." Beast Boy said mockingly. "Hey, just don't bleed on the seat. Cy'll kill me!"

"I'll…try."

As they drove along, Beast Boy noticed something. On their original drive from Titans Tower, Bard had set his back against the leather upholstered chair casually as he drove. But now, he was leaning forward anxiously. Well, of course, he was probably anxious to get his wound taken care of, he _did_ kinda have a _knife_ sticking out of him, but something about it still didn't sit quite right.

Then he saw it. Bard had come to an intersection and had turned slightly to the right to check for traffic. Beast Boy's eyes widened as he saw that the knife had gone all the way though his body. An inch or so of the knife had cut through Bard's shirt and was poking out of his back!

"Dude, are you _sure_ you're okay?" Beast Boy said, his tone ultra worried.

"Hey, I'm a --cowboy, remember?" His voice was slurred. "All of us -- cowboys…..are…tough."

Bard passed out. He leaned back lifelessly into his seat, but the rest of his weight firmly pushed down on the accelerator.

**VRRRRROOOOOOOMMMMMM!**

"Beast Boy!" Raven called out, and that was the last thing Bard remembered hearing.

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For what seemed like the millionth time, Bard woke up on the bed in his room. He opened his eyes and, of course, he saw nothing but a blur of color.

"You're awake." It was Raven. Bard couldn't see her, but he knew that voice anywhere.

"Why is that I feel like I've spent more time lying in this bed then fighting crime?" Bard muttered. "I'm gonna start getting bedsores! We have _got_ to stop making this a habit."

"For your sake,"

Bard tried to raise his left arm to reach over and grab his glasses off the bedside table, but he couldn't move it. It was probably still weak, and the heavy bandages that incased his bicep, shoulder and neck must have been weighing it down.

"You couldn't hand me my glasses, could ya?" Bard asked his sister.

Silently, she picked them up and handed them to him.

"Thanks," he slipped them on. "Ah, much better." He looked at Raven more closely. She looked downright haggard.

"I haven't been out for another week, have I?" He asked apprehensively.

Raven shook her head.

"Only a day,"

Only a day? But that shouldn't wear Raven down like _this_. Ah, well, she must still be recovering from where she had to teleport all those kids at once…

"I can't believe my arm doesn't hurt." Bard commented then. "Ya'll must've done a good job patchin' me up." He paused. "Actually, I don't feel a thing. Did ya'll give me some painkillers or something?"

Raven nodded…slowly.

"I'm going to go tell the others you're awake." She told him, standing up.

"Tell Beast Boy I want to see him."

Raven stopped halfway to the door.

"What for?"

Bard grinned lopsidedly.

"For the pleasure of his company, of course."

Silence…

"He won't come in here." Raven finally uttered.

Bard's brow creased.

"Why not?" He asked. "He ain't mad at me, is he?"

"No, he just refuses to enter this room."

"Why not?" When he didn't receive an answer from her, Bard took a shot in the dark. "Does it have something to do with that girl?"

Raven blinked.

"He told you about…her?"

"Not really," Bard shrugged. "He just said….well, it was guy talk."

"Before or after the topic of sweaty men in underwear?"

"Before," Bard told her candidly. "We always talk about girls before talkin' about wrestling so we don't feel quite so gay."

Raven didn't even bat an eyelash at the joke. Bard knew she was the 'Ice Queen', emotionless and all that stuff, but she wasn't a stone. Bard knew her well. He could see emotions flicker deep in her eyes and sometimes her lip would curl slightly; her version of a smile. But she hadn't reacted at all! He frowned as she left.

Something was wrong…

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The Teen Titans were a somber group from where they were gathered in the main room of Titans Tower.

"He's awake." Raven announced when she entered. The Titans didn't seem very happy about that. Quite the contrary, they seemed even more grim.

"We're gonna have to tell him, you know." Robin told them.

Everyone nodded slightly in silent agreement.

"It should come from someone he's close to." The Boy Wonder continued. "He'll probably take it easier that way."

Five eyes, two eye slits and a red, cybernetic optic turned to look at Raven.

"It doesn't matter who it comes from." She contradicted her leader, shaking her head. "His music is his entire life…besides his god. If he can't play his guitar…" She paused. "Why not let Beast Boy tell him? He did ask to see him."

"What for?" Robin asked.

"For some reason, he finds his presence….enjoyable." She replied. "It must come from a genetic factor on his mother's side."

"Hey! Are you saying you don't like me?"

"……."

"Pssh, fine. See if I care!" A beat. "You really don't like me?"

"……."

"So….who's gonna tell'em?" Cyborg asked.

"Why inform our friend at all?" Starfire asked. "The physicist at Celestial Laboratories told us that his condition might not be permanent."

Robin shook his head grimly.

"Dr. Pollack said that it was only a small chance, Star. He didn't give any guarantees." He took in a breath. "We have to tell him. He deserves to know…whatever the outcome."

Silence….

Meanwhile, back in his room, Bard had sat up and had carefully and gingerly swung his legs over to the floor. He had woken up without his shirt. He figured that whoever worked on him must have had to cut it away to heal him. Good riddance. Thought he was shirtless, Bard still wore the baggy jeans and white Air Force Ones from earlier. He might not be able get those infernal jeans off, but he was sure as the sun was going to rise tomorrow that he was at _least_ gonna put on his cowboy boots.

He reached down with his good hand, after kicking off the white tennis shoes, and picked up the boots from where they were sitting at the foot of his bed. He pulled up the right leg of his jeans and, with one hand, laboriously tried to put it on his foot. Suddenly, he lost his balance and was forced to either stand up on one foot or fall forward. He stood up on one foot. He hopped quite a few times in a futile attempt to stay upright, but, inevitably, he finally fell to the floor. Surprisingly, his arms didn't hurt the slightest from the jolt.

And just at the exact moment, Robin, Raven, Cyborg and Raven walked into the room. Beast Boy was conspicuously absent. Robin was the first one end, and his sharp eyes caught the briefest of flashes of a tattoo halfway up Bard's leg. The cowboy quickly pushed down his pants leg.

"What happened to you?" Robin asked him.

Bard sweat dropped.

"I, er, was kinda trying to put on my boots. I lost my balance and fell over." He admitted.

"Are you undamaged?" Starfire asked with concern. Robin and Cyborg flinched slightly at the remark, but the gestures went unnoticed.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I just-whoa!"

Much to Bard's chagrin, Starfire had once again picked him up like a toddler. Effortlessly, she turned and laid him on his bed.

"I _wish_ you wouldn't do that, Star." He muttered sourly as he wormed his way up to a sitting position where he could rest his back against the head board of the bed.

Starfire blinked.

"Why not? Was it not easier, in your current condition, for me to assist you."

"Never mind," Bard sighed. She was impossible to talk to.

"How are you feeling?" Robin asked.

"Surprisingly good, actually." Bard replied. "I don't know what kind of pain killers you gave me, but they sure are working like a charm.

You could cut the sudden tension in the air with a knife.

"But…we didn't give you any medication." Robin informed him slowly.

Now it was Bard's turn to blink. He looked over at his sister, but Raven refused to meet his gaze.

"If you didn't give me anything, then why can't I feel my-" He froze. "Y-you mean I'm…p-paralyzed?"

The downcast faces and silence of his friends were enough to answer him.

"But…that mean's I can't be a superhero anymore." Bard muttered so quietly that it was almost as if he were simply talking to himself. "Or-or-or-or…" His shocked, blue eyes fell involuntarily on the guitar standing meekly in the corner. Then, as if all the will had been sucked out of him, his neck slumped forward and he stared unseeingly into his lap. His glasses slowly slid off his face, but he didn't move.

"Dr. Pollack said that there's a chance that it's only temporary." Robin tried to assure him. "I won't give you any false hope. It's a small chance, and there aren't any guarantees. But…it's a chance all the same."

"…….."

"Hey, man! Don't take it so hard!" Cyborg tried to cheer him up. "If worse comes to worse, we can always chop the sucker off and I can get you a mechanical one. And I can even put a sonic cannon or something cool in it!"

"……" He still sat there, unmoving as a statue, giving no evidence that he had even heard.

"Bard, please answer us." Starfire pleaded passionately. "We are still your friends, even if one of your limbs in nonfunctional!"

"……"

"I think it's time we left." Robin decided. "He needs some time alone." They all silently filed out the door, but Starfire, last in line, lingered for a moment.

"Please come back to us, Bard." She whispered to him. "The world will be a darker place without you." Then she turned and quietly left, closing the door behind her gently.

For how long he sat there, Bard didn't know. Minutes, hours, or even days later, he finally pulled himself out of his shocked state. His eyes slowly looked down at his left forearm and hand, which were not bandaged. He tried to bend his fingers. They didn't move.

Bend.

They refused to respond.

_Bend!_

Still the digits of his left hand wouldn't budge an inch.

Bard's brow furrowed into concentration and sweat beaded down his face as he put all of his will into it.

_**Bend!**_

But still the fingers hung limply. They didn't even feel like a part of his body anymore.

Finally, Bard broke down and wept.


	20. Back In The Saddle Again

"_Don't - call - me - 'Sissy'!" - Raven_

_**CHAPTER TWENTY**_

_**BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN**_

At first, Bard wasn't exactly sure where he was. The cowboy blinked several times behinds silver spectacles as he peered into a bright and hot white spotlight that shone down on him. Finally, his eyes a bit clearer, he could see that he was standing on a big, black concert stage and that thousands upon thousands of joyous fans were in front of him with happy faces and anticipating eyes. He looked down at himself and saw that he was dressed in a black, western suit, along with his ever present cowboy boots and black cowboy hat planted firmly on his head.

He glanced behind him and saw that the Teen Titans were with him. Robin held an electric guitar and Cyborg held a bass. Beyond them, his sister Raven was seated in front of a glossy piano, Starfire held a tambourine and Beast Boy was almost hidden behind a huge drum set. Bard hadn't known that the Titans could play instruments, and he didn't care how they came to learn.

His dream had come true!

He looked down and saw that his wooden, acoustic guitar was strapped around his neck and that it hung in front of him. With his right hand, he ran his thumb over the strings of the instrument, and the sound it emitted was beautiful….just plain beautiful. He looked back at the Titans and then at the crowd before him. Everyone was waiting breathlessly on him. He tried to lift his left hand to grip the neck of the guitar and have his fingers form the first chord on the fret board.

But it wouldn't move. It simply hung there limply by his side. Again he tried to raise it, and again it refused to move.

The crowd was starting to catch on to the fact that something was wrong. There was an angry buzz, then, thousands of boos reverberated in Bard ears and mind. He looked back at the Teen Titans, but they couldn't help. They just stood there, locking eyes with him that were filled with disappointment.

So much disappointment….

Bard came awake suddenly, breathing and perspiring heavily. He automatically reached for his silver glasses at his side with his right hand and slipped them on. Then, after taking a couple of long, deep breaths to calm himself down, he wormed himself up into a sitting position and looked over at the glowing red numbers of his alarm clock that quickly and dispassionately informed him it was four thirty a.m. He looked down at his crippled left arm. It was unfeeling, unmoving and, for all likes and purposes, totally dead. Bard looked hard at his fingers.

Bend!

But they would not. He sat there for a long while, playing the new 'bend' game he had created in the dark solitude of his room. But his fingers won every single round of the contest. Finally giving up, a strange thought entered his mind.

'_All right, why aren't you gloating?'_

'**Why state the obvious, son? You know that your arm is useless….and why.'**

Needless to say, that didn't make him feel any better.

At exactly five o clock on the dot, he heard heavy stomps running down the hallway outside. After the briefest of knocks, Cyborg came into the room.

"Get up, Bard! Slade's on the screen in the main room!" He announced.

"……"

"Still wallowing in self-pity, huh?" Cyborg observed shrewdly, slowing himself down. "Look, you lost your arm, and I lost damn near all of my body. I had to get over it, and so do you."

"…….."

"Fine, it's your decision." A pause. "Do you think that Jesus would be proud of you right about now?"

Bard winced at that. That cut deeper than any knife ever could.

"When you're ready to grow up a little, we'll be waitin' for ya." Cyborg turned and left.

Bard stared up at the ceiling with thoughtful blue eyes. W.W.J.D. What would Jesus do? It was so cliché that it almost made him want to laugh…but it did get right to the point, didn't it? Bard sighed.

_God, he needed a cigarette._

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All five Teen Titans were gathered in the main room. Their Titan Apprentice, Bard, was absent and Beast Boy looked to be almost asleep on his feet. Just as Cyborg had said to Bard earlier, Slade's masked face was on the huge computer screen.

"_Good morning, Titans."_ Slade greeted them.

"Well, it _was_," Robin said bluntly. "What do you want?"

"_Robin, Robin, Robin. Always impatient, and always thinking the worst of me. I simply 'called' to inquire about Bard's health."_

"Why would you care?"

"_Didn't you know?" _Slade asked in mock surprise. _"Jonny and I used to be very good friends…surely you knew this, correct? But that is in the past. How is our friend Bard now?"_

"…….." Silence. No one spoke.

"_He hasn't gone and died on you, has he?" _The villain's voice actually seemed a trifle worried.

"……"

"I'm still alive and kickin'!" Bard announced boldly, appearing out of nowhere. He had somehow been able to put on his customary outfit, along with his dark trench coat, with one good hand. This snazzy entrance was probably the only good thing that would come from his injury. "It takes more than a knife to do _this_ cowboy in!"

Starfire's smile was almost incandescent and Cyborg's grin was one of satisfaction.

"_Good, good." _Slade approved. _"I still have work for you to do."_

Bard's eyes narrowed.

"I don't work for you." He bit off 'anymore' from the end of that line at the last second.

"_You used to, but that is beside the point. Just because I am not your employer does not mean that you cannot help me."_ He paused. _"Since you are all here anyway, let me introduce you to my new associate."_

The scene switched from Slade's face to a laboratory somewhere. A dozen or so masked and white coated scientists hovered around a table in a room filled with all kinds of technology and gadgetry. And on a table in the center of the room was-

"Tim!" Bard gasped. "What are you doing to him?"

Bard's old friend was saying something heatedly to one of the scientists, but there was no sound.

"_Nothing he didn't ask for, I assure you. Tim…he is an interesting man. Big, strong and intelligent, the latter not being a common trait in his kind. He wants revenge on you, Bard, and I decided to give him the opportunity. Ironically, he was almost your apprentice, correct? You taught him all you know, and now he'll use that knowledge against you. He knows you better than anyone, am I right?"_

"What are you gonna do to him?" Bard demanded, ignoring that.

"_I am simply bestowing him with a gift. One that you will find out about soon enough. Now, just to keep you on your toes, Titans, I've sent Kitten and Jinx, along with some friends, to steal a few worthless objects from the museum. Don't you think you should get down there?"_

The screen turned to black. With clenched teeth, the Boy Wonder smashed down at the computer terminal with the flat of his fist.

"I _hate_ that man!" He declared viciously.

"Emmm, calm down, dude." Beast Boy rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "Didn't he say we have to go to the museum or somethin'?"

**BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!**

"That confirms it, man" Cyborg said, pointing a metal finger at the alarm. "We gotta go."

Robin nodded and took off at a sprint for the elevator. He dug his heels in.

"Are you sure you want to come with us?" He asked Bard, realizing suddenly that the cowboy looked strange without his guitar hanging from his back. "Your arm-"

"Isn't crippled." 'Yet', he bit off. "I not gonna stop fightin' 'til the credits roll and the sad song plays."

"What?"

"…..Never mind. Personal thing."

"Oh….right." A beat. "Titans, Go!"

Bard was the last in line. When the others were gone, he looked up at the ceiling.

"I am _so_ gonna get my ass whipped." He muttered under his breath. Then he ran off after his friends.

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Bard sat in the back seat of the T-Car, and it felt _really weird_. Obviously, he couldn't drive his big Harley with one hand, so he had hitched a ride with Cyborg and Raven. The former was driving and the latter sat stoically in the passenger seat.

"So, Cy." Bard said hesitantly.

"Yo?" Cyborg threw back over his shoulder.

"You mind if I smoke a cigarette on the way there?"

"Hey, man! What you do to your own lungs is your own business, but I don't want no tar on mine from second hand smoke!"

Bard blinked.

"You have lungs?" He wasn't exactly sure how Cyborg's anatomy worked.

"Sure I have lungs!" Cyborg told him. "I _do_ have to breathe, ya know! Course, they're mechanical…"

"Then how in the world could second hand smoke hurt'em?"

Cyborg's good eye blinked as he thought about that..

"Pssh! All right, fine." Cyborg conceded. "As long as it's okay with Raven." He added.

"Raven?" The cowboy appealed to her pleadingly.

"……"

"Yes!" Bard said exuberantly. "Thanks!" He quickly fumbled through his pockets, found a cigarette and popped into his mouth.

"Yeah, well, don't make a habit of this." Cyborg said after Bard had lit up the cancer stick. "And crack the window! I don't want my baby smelling like smoke or havin' ashes on her seats, hear?"

"Loud and clear!" Bard grinned, happily taking another puff.

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"Now _this_ is what I call a fashion statement!" Jinx exclaimed, putting on a heavily jeweled golden crown that, as the display said, had reputedly belonged to Richard the Third.

"It's useless." Kitten told her accomplice as she watched Slade's robots plunder and destroy the rest of the museum. She had changed greatly under the villain's tutelage. "Slade said the only thing he needs is-"

"I already got it." Jinx interrupted her, checking out her reflection in a glass display case.

"Then why are we still here?"

"Because I want to have some fun first." Jinx said girlishly. "You can have some fun, too. Your boyfriend and the rest of the Titans should be here soon and-"

"Correction, we're already here!" Robin yelled at them. Bard and the rest of the Teen Titans were behind him.

"Took you long enough," Jinx replied blandly, nonchalantly tossing off her crown. "I was starting to get bored."

"What are you doing here?" Robin demanded of her.

"You'll have to talk to Slade about that." Jinx shrugged. "I just do what he tells me to do." She snapped her fingers and pointed. All the robots in the huge exhibition room, almost as one man, drew their laser blasters and pointed them at the Titans. They could hear the footfalls of the robots in the other wings of the museum converging in on them.

"Titans, scatter!" Robin barked.

**ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!**

Bard ran forward and leapt into a circular desk even as the other Titans spread out. Normally, Bard figured, this would be a reception desk or a customer service desk. But right now, it would serve as cover. He peeked his head over the red lacquered desk, but laser fire forced him right back down. In the split second of sight, he saw that Raven had planted a black, obsidian shield over herself, Robin was somersaulting towards Jinx and Starfire was flinging fiery green star bolts at the robots around her. He hadn't seen Beast Boy or Cyborg.

Taking a deep breath, he drew the laser pistol he had stolen from Kitten all those nights ago and leapt up onto the desk. The movement felt incredibly cumbersome and slow. Normally, he would have planted his left palm on the desk to help catapult him up, but since it was useless, he had to use the hand his gun was in.

"Beast Boy!" He called to his friend when he saw him kicking away robots in the form of a kangaroo, even as he took down a few robots with his pistol. "Horse!"

Beast Boy understood immediately. He transformed into a huge, emerald horse, reared, whinnied and turned to run towards the desk. Holstering his weapon as the laser fire around him grew more intense, he reached out and grabbed a handful of the dark green mane and flung himself onto the changeling's back. Bard's hat, since he didn't have a free hand to keep it in place, blew right off his head. Several robots were tumbled mercilessly under the green stallion's huge hoofs as Bard gripped the sides of the animal firmly with his legs and redrew his laser pistol.

**ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!**

"Yeeeeeeeee-hah!" If he could have, Bard would have twirled his hat in the air above him.

When they reached a wall, Bard dismounted. Beast Boy was almost talking before he even returned to his regular self.

"Yee-hah, dude?" He asked. "That is _so_ cliché!"

"Sorry," Bard muttered, a little embarrassed. "I couldn't help myself…"

"Well-"

**BOOM!**

A shot from Kitten's huge laser rifle hit the floor between the two friends, and the resulting explosion flung them in opposite directions.

"Wahhhhh!" Bard hardly heard Beast Boy's surprised wail just before he hit the tiled floor and slid to a stop. He looked up from his sprawled condition and saw his cowboy hat laying before the circular desk, about twenty yards in front of the strategic position where Kitten and Jinx were laying about them with huge laser blasts and pink hex bolts.

Bard pushed himself up with his good hand and ran for his hat, but suddenly, a blacked clothed robot stood in his way. Before the cowboy could even gasp in surprise, the robot hit him solidly in the jaw with a standing, spinning back roundhouse kick. Bard spun from the blow, minimizing the impact, and lifted his own leg to deliver the exact same kick right into the back of the robot's head. The robot hit the tiled floor hard face first. Bard rubbed his injured cheek gingerly.

Across the room, Cyborg had kicked the legs out from under a robot and, while he was still sideways and in midair, he blasted him with a blue beam from his sonic cannon. The robot went flying across the room from the force and fell into three or four of his 'buddies'.

Meanwhile, humming the wind song, Bard leapt incredibly high into the air towards his hat. Just before he reached it, a pink hex bolt hit the cowboy's black headwear. Bard's eyes widened as it melted into black ooze. He whirled on Jinx.

"You destroyed my cowboy hat." He said in shock. "_You destroyed…my cowboy hat!"_

Angrily, he thrust his good hand at the pink haired witch.

_Ohhhhhhhhhh, white lightnin'!_

A sizzling lightning bolt erupted from his outstretched hand at Jinx, but she ducked just in the nick of time. Before Bard could follow up his attack, Kitten had leveled the huge laser rifle that appeared to be twice her weight at him.

"Ah, sh-"

**ZAAAAAAP!**

"Told you you'd have fun." Jinx commented to Kitten. The blonde's answering grin was sadistically pleasurable.

Bard knew immediately that the blast that hit him wasn't your run of the mill laser. How? Finding himself ten feet in the air and flipping backwards wildly in the air as the front of his trench coat smoked was a pretty telltale factor. Looking back on it, he was eternally grateful that his trench coat was inlaid with body armor. Right now, though, he didn't feel like thanking anyone. The hard, tiled floor was coming up closer and closer. He closed his eyes and tensed himself for the huge impact and….

It never came.

He opened his eyes and found that his sister Raven was levitating before him and caught him on a glowing hand of shadow. He sweat dropped nervously as he adjusted his glasses.

"Thanks, sis." He mumbled.

"They're gettin' away!" Cyborg shouted.

Bard, back on the solid floor, looked up. Jinx and Kitten were running for a hallway. Robin was closest to them. With a growl, the caped crusader leapt after them, but, in mid stride, Jinx flung a hex bolt over her head as she entered the hallway. The roof above them collapsed, sealing their escape route.

"Arrgh!" Robin lashed out in frustration, kicking the shattered remnants of a vase across the floor.

Without the added help from Jinx and Kitten, the robots were no match for the Teen Titans. When they were all down…

"Is anyone damaged?" Starfire asked as the Titans gathered around their leader. Everyone shook their heads.

"Robin, you are hurt!" The Tamaranian exclaimed, pointing to a shallow cut on the only part of the Boy Wonder's exposed right arm between his glove and his green short sleeve.

"It's just a nick." Robin shrugged, then his eyes narrowed. "What did Slade want here?" He wondered out loud.

"He said he just wanted to keep us on our toes." Bard reminded him.

"No," Robin shook his head in disagreement. "Slade doesn't do _anything_ just because. He wanted something here. The only question is…what?" He whipped out his communicator and Commissioner Walker's face appeared on the screen.

"We had a little run in with Jinx and Kitten down here in the museum." Robin told him.

"I know," Walker replied wryly. "We got the alarm signal. We're on our way now."

"I have to ask a favor of you. As soon as you find out, could you tell me if anything was stolen?"

"Why not look for yourself?" The Commissioner asked bluntly.

"Er, well…" Robin looked around at the totally wrecked museum around him. It was in shambles. "The museum had sustained some…slight damage."

"Hah, slight!" Walker said. "Whenever your Titans have been somewhere, the damage is always more than slight! Do you have any idea how much that stuff in there is worth?! It's probably a total war zone in there, isn't it?"

"I don't know if I'd say 'war zone' exactly…"

"Well, I'll see it with my own two eyes soon enough." The Commissioner sighed. "All right, yeah, I'll let you know if anything's been stolen."

"Thanks, Commissioner."

"Yeah, yeah. Go back to Titans Tower and…do whatever the hell it is you do."

Not long after the Teen Titans had left, Commissioner Walker, dressed in a plain, gray suit, walked into the museum to survey the damage.

"The Mayor is gonna tear me a new asshole for this." He muttered. Then he turned to his men. "All right, get this crap cleaned up! And I want everything accounted for, got it?"

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Once again in the back seat of the T-Car with Cyborg and Raven up front, Bard lit up another cigarette.

"Yo, man. You smokin' another one of those things?" Cyborg threw back over his shoulder at the cowboy. "You just smoked one like half an hour ago!"

"After what just happened, I reckoned I deserved it." Bard answered.

"You _did_ fight pretty good, despite that arm of yours." Cyborg commented.

"Beast Boy helped me."

"Oh, and he's modest, too!" He nudged Raven mockingly. "Isn't your bro sweet?"

"……."

"All right, fine!" Bard said. "I whipped ass! How do you like that?"

Cyborg laughed.

"You're not gonna get on me for cussin'?" Bard exhaled smoke. "Beast Boy said-"

"Yeah, yeah, Robin's rules." Cyborg cut to the chase. "We're teenagers! We're not _supposed_ to follow the rules. I wouldn't do it in front of Wonder Boy, though."

Bard nodded and then looked at his half sister.

"Hey, do me a favor and remind me to kill Jinx."

"What for?" Cyborg asked as they stopped at a traffic light.

"She destroyed my cowboy hat!"

"So?" Cyborg shrugged. "Just get a new one. Sissy over here has like fourteen capes."

"_Don't - call - me - 'Sissy'!"_

Cyborg cringed, even as Bard was shaking his head.

"I don't mind getting a new one." He told them. "But…an old friend gave me that hat."

"That Tim guy?" Cyborg guessed.

"No…someone else."

A beat.

"Bard," Raven said.

"Um-hmm?"

"Kill Jinx,"

Bard stared at his sister's stoic face for a long moment. Finally, he burst out laughing.

"Did I miss something?" Cyborg asked, confused.

But Bard couldn't answer. He was still laughing.


	21. Just A Little Ride

"_**What's the matter, Thelma? Did Scooby-Doo run into you and knock off your glasses?" - Tim**_

_**CHAPTER TWENTY ONE**_

_**JUST A LITTLE RIDE…**_

"Ohhhhhh, yeah!" Beast Boy quipped as they arrived back in the main room of Titans Tower. "We _so_ just whipped major bad guy butt!"

"Yup!" Cyborg agreed. "After this mornin's festivities , I'd say we deserve some food. I'm starvin'!"

"Tofu waffles, comin' right up!"

"Pssh! You can make that crap if you want to, BB, but for me, it's bacon and sausage all the way!"

"That is a good idea, Robin." Starfire said to the Boy Wonder. "Would you like me to prepare some sustenance for you?"

"No thanks, Star." Robin replied, his mind obviously preoccupied. "I still have to find out why Slade would send his cronies down to the museum…"

"But did not Commissioner Walker tell that he would look out at it for you?" Starfire protested.

Robin shook his head.

"I can't thrust my problems into other people's laps." He told her. "If Commissioner Walker can help, great, but I have to look into this on my own."

"Oh, okay…"

Meanwhile, in front of the kitchen…

"C'mon," Beast Boy cajoled, trying to jump and make himself face to face with his friend. "Everyone knows my waffles are better than your grease!" He turned to where Bard was standing not far away. "Isn't that right, Bard?"

Bard blinked. He hadn't even been aware he was in their conversation.

"Er…say what?"

"C'mon, man." Cyborg told him. "We both know you like meat way better than tofu stuff!"

"Listen not to the dark side!" Beast Boy told Bard. "If you eat the tofu waffles, I'll give you extra syrrrrrrup!" The green changeling paused and blinked several times. "That dark side joke sounded a little racist, didn't it?"

"Uh, I think I'll just have some Fruit Loops." Bard said, walking between them to the refrigerator.

"Bard," Robin called over to the Titan Apprentice, waving him over. "Let me talk to you for a second."

"Uh, all right." Bard hesitantly followed him out into one of the many dark hallways of the tower. Robin was a legend, after all, and he hadn't spoken with him one on one very often since becoming an Titan Apprentice.

"I just wanted to say that you fought surprisingly well today, even though your arm…"

Bard nodded quickly, not making him say it.

"But, for a while at least, I want you to stay out of the main part of the battles." Robin continued. "You're equipped for long range fighting, anyway, with that laser pistol of yours and your powers. All right?"

Bard nodded.

"Good," Robin approved. He turned to continue along the hallway, but then he stopped and looked back. "By the way, I wouldn't ride the fence too long with Beast Boy and Cyborg on the tofu/meat thing. They'll just worry you to death if you do. It's probably best to just go ahead and pick one."

"Will do,"

Bard nodded again and watched the Boy Wonder leave. Then he turned and went back into the main room.

"I think I'm gonna go take a little ride." He announced.

"Ride what?" Raven asked bluntly.

Of course! With his arm indisposed, how was he supposed to ride his Harley?

"I guess I'll be walkin', then." Bard corrected himself.

"You can take the T-Car if ya want." Cyborg offered.

"Really?" Bard was surprised. It was the half robot's 'baby', after all.

"You drove it before, haven't ya?" Cyborg pointed out.

"Well, yeah, but that was on a mission and-"

"Don't make a bit of difference. I'll have to give you the code, though, since she won't recognize your voice."

The big Titan walked over and whispered something into Bard's ear.

"Did you get that? Now, just don't be tryin' to sneak out and take her for a joy ride around midnight tonight. The code changes every twenty four hours." Cyborg's face suddenly became grim and serious. "And if you burn any holes in her from those cigs of yours, I'll kill ya." He added threateningly.

Bard blinked.

"Well, have a good ride!"

"Er, right." Bard sweat dropped.

"You're not gonna eat before you go?" Beast Boy asked.

"Uh…nah. Save some sausage and bacon for me though!"

"Told ya, BB!"

Bard smiled as he walked away.

Down in the garage, Bard opened up the door of the T-Car and sat behind the wheel after pressing the red button to open the garage door. On the keypad before the LCD screen, he typed in the code Cyborg had given him. The engine hummed to life under the hood.

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Bard merely drove around aimlessly, simply enjoying the sights of the city. As he chugged along, smoking a cigarette in Cyborg's 'baby', he admitted to himself that the city really was beautiful. Not as beautiful as the mountains, of course, but pleasant in its own right, with it's tall buildings, sunny parks and golden trolleys.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a white sign placed in a small, grassy green yard. Suddenly curious, he slowed down to read it. "LivingTree Orphanage". Before he even realized he was doing it, Bard pulled the T-Car to a stop in front of the large, red bricked orphanage. He sat there looking at the building for a long time before finally getting out of the car. He silently examined the place as he threw away his cigarette and his cowboy boots clanked against the concrete walkway that led up to the front door. It looked like a nice, homey place.

He opened the door and-

**CHIME!**

Bard very nearly jumped out of his boots at the sound of the bell ringing above the door. That was something he was very thankful that the orphanage _he_ had grown up in didn't have. Somehow, he was brought back to being the fifteen year old Jonny sneaking back in from a date with Amber. He sighed. He had a strange feeling that was somewhere between regret and nostalgia.

Upon walking into the place, he was met by a desk and a matronly receptionist with her brown hair tied conservatively into a bun. Something else here that was new to him.

"Can I help you, young man?" She asked professionally.

"Well…" Bard prepared himself for a strategic lie. "I grew up here, and I just wanted to take a look around. Is that okay, Miss?"

The woman pressed her lips together thoughtfully.

"Your name?" She asked.

"Uh…JB."

"All right, sign in here please." She handed him a pen and a clipboard.

As Bard explored the orphanage, he realized that it was a lot different from the place he had grown up. Back then, he would have killed to live in a place like this! There was twice the room here, the beds looked cleaner and bigger, and there was even a game room! A pleasant room with board games, a dartboard and even a television with a video game system.

But strangely, Bard didn't see a single child. This was like a zoo without any animals! But then he realized he was wrong. Behind a bed, he could just barely make out a few tufts of jet black hair.

"Howdy," Bard said, walking over.

"Oh! Uh…hi." The ten year old girl was sitting behind the opposite side of the bed with her knees drawn up to her chest. There was a book in her hands.

"'The Once and Future King'?" Bard asked, reading the cover. "Isn't that a little complicated for a girl your age?"

"I understand it well enough." The girl replied meekly with a rosy blush on her cheeks.

"Ah, a smart lady!" Bard said gently. "What's your name, hun?"

"….Bridget."

"Well, nice to meet you, Bridget." Bard said warmly. "My name's Bard."

"Bard?" Bridget mouthed quietly to herself. "Wait! I've seen you on the news! You're part of the Teen Titans, aren't you?"

Bard nodded. He figured it wouldn't really matter to explain the difference between a Teen Titan and a Titan Apprentice to her.

"So, what's your favorite character in that book?"

"Merlin," Bridget answered promptly, putting aside her bashfulness. "I like his magic powers. I always dream that when I grow up, I'll be able to do magic, too."

"Maybe you can," Bard suggested.

Bridget shook her head, her double black pigtails limply swinging from side to side.

"I know magic isn't real."

"Sure it is."

Bridget's look was skeptical. Bard decided to make her a believer. Well, in the terms of magic, anyway. Slowly, he held up his right finger.

"Watch closely, now." He told her. Her eyes were attentive.

Humming lightly under his breath, Bard concentrated. Slowly, on the very tip of his index finger, a pinpoint of light appeared. As Bridget's eyes widened in wonder under her pink eyeglasses, the light became bigger and bigger, until finally it was as big as an apple. Then, with an irrepressibly grin, Bard blew the light apart into glowing shards that floated through the air like lightning bugs before finally disappearing.

"You really think I could do that someday?" Bridget asked him hopefully, her heart in her eyes.

"Of course," Bard assured her.

"Could you teach me how to do it?"

That stopped Bard dead in his tracks.

"Well," he groped for some kind of answer besides: 'Sure, as long as your dad happens to be Lucifer!'.

"Magic…is complicated." He said instead. "It can't be taught; it's something you have to learn on your own."

She nodded thoughtfully at that.

A moment of silence…

"Will you be my boyfriend?"

Bard smiled at that request, but then he gave some show of considering the idea.

"Well, you are quite a sweet lookin' girl." He said. "But you're so smart, I reckon you'd probably make me look like an idiot."

"Plus, I'm too old for you." Bridget added.

Bard blinked, but then he chuckled. That was a joke he didn't expect from someone as young as her.

"So," Bard said after that. "Where are all the other kids?"

"Playing outside,"

"Why aren't you out there playin' with'em?"

"No reason," Bridget shrugged. "I just like my book better."

Bard nodded.

"Well, I guess it's time for me to go." He told her. "It was nice meetin' you."

"Me, too."

He patted her affectionately on the shoulder and walked away. When he reached the small room that led back outside, the receptionist looked up at him.

"Did you have a nice time, JB?"

It took Bard a moment to remember that _he_ was JB.

"Oh, of course." He said then. "Thanks for letting me look around."

He put a hand on the door handle.

"Uh, excuse me," the receptionist stopped him. "But do you, by chance, know a young man named Tim?"

_That_ immediately got Bard's attention.

"Why do you ask?" He replied cautiously.

"There was a young man named Tim in here not too long ago." She explained. "Said he grew up here, too. You look to be about the same age, so I just thought that maybe the two of you lived here together."

"We did!" Bard nodded just a bit too anxiously. "He's an old friend of mine. Did he say where he was going? Or if he was coming back?"

"He said he might come back, but first he said he wanted to take a walk around the block."

Bard stuck around just long enough to spit out a 'thanks' before sprinting out the door.

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**RINNNNNNG! RINNNNNNG!**

Raven looked up from her book.

"Phone's ringin'!" Cyborg announced, rapidly hitting the button of his controller.

"Then why don't you answer it?"

"I'm in the middle of a game, Raye!"

"Then Beast Boy-"

"I'm gonna pass you. I'm gonna pass you." Beast Boy chanted, staring intensely at the screen. "I'm right on your bumper, tin man! I'm gonna pass you! I am _so _gonna- Ahhhh! I didn't know you had any oil slick left!"

"That's why _I'm_ the master!"

"Why do I even bother…" Raven sighed. She closed her book, rose from the futon couch and answered the phone. "Hello?"

"_Yes, may I speak to Bard, please?"_

"Who is this?" Raven asked suspiciously.

"_I am Master Harkuo. Bard is a student of mine. I am teaching him Ninjitsu, but he has not come to my dojo in over a week and a half."_

Raven immediately knew why.

"He's not here right now, but I'll tell him to call you."

"_Thank you, Miss. Goodbye."_

Raven hung up the phone.

So, her brother had been attending Ninjitsu classes. No wonder he was starting to improve, _slightly_, in battle. But he hadn't gone in over a week. First, there was that period of time he'd been out after…after overusing his powers, and now, it was because of his arm…

She shook her head, sat back down and once again buried herself into her book.

Meanwhile, Robin sat in front of a glowing computer screen in his surprisingly dark bedroom. Actually, 'bedroom' was probably not the best word for it. The room was more like a workshop, with a computer and various prototypes of new gadgets. There were small, intricate tools strewn haphazardly all over the place and the walls were absolutely covered in newspaper clippings of crime in the city, but the name that appeared most often was 'Slade'. Right now, The Boy Wonder was sifting through all the items the museum received in the last three months.

A World War II helmet.

Mummified remains of a seemingly poor king in Egypt.

A steel broadsword reputedly owned by Julius Caesar.

The crown of Richard the Third.

So far, Robin saw nothing that he thought would be any interest to Slade. He had to find out what the villain wanted there! But wait a minute! What was this… Robin stared at the screen intensely, and then leaned back in his chair and grinned.

Jackpot!

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Outside Living Tree Orphanage, Bard looked left and right No Tim. Briefly, he considered hopping into the T-Car to search for him, but he quickly dismissed that idea. Tim had probably been in town long enough to recognize it. Plus, if what the receptionist had said was true, Tim was on foot. He couldn't have gotten far.

With steady, loping strides, Bard quickly circled the block. But there was no sign of Tim anywhere. A little slower this time, Bard rounded the block once again to end up in from of the orphanage. But still no Tim. Sighing at the failure, he turned to get into the T-Car. Maybe he could cruise around the neighborhoods and-

He stopped, blinked, sweat dropped, and blinked again.

The T-Car was gone. Desperately, Bard looked up and scanned the street with his eyes. With a sigh of relief, he found that the T-Car was simply parked on the other side of the street. He frowned then. Hadn't he parked on this side? Bard was certain of it. Someone had moved the vehicle somehow…

"Sorry 'bout your car, Jon! I just wanted to test out the new 'gift' I just got!"

Bard spun and, sure enough, it was Tim. Even though Autumn was just around the corner, Bard's old friend wore a tight, red tank top that showed off his huge muscles. Below that, he wore black jeans and combat boots.

Bard unconsciously rubbed his eyes. Tim seemed…bigger than usual. And also, two small tubes could be seen running out of the base of his neck down to something on his back. Bard couldn't see well enough to be sure, though, since Tim's huge body blocked his sight. But there was something strangely familiar about those two tubes, however. It seemed like something he had heard about Gotham City and Batman, but whatever it was wouldn't come to him.

"This is like a wet dream for you, ain't it?" Tim asked, grinning lecherously. "We're on an empty street and it's high noon! It's just like one of those showdowns you see on those western flicks you love so much!" He cracked his knuckles noisily.

"Not exactly," Bard contradicted.

"Yeah? And why is that?"

"'Cause I'm the only one here with a gun!" Bard pushed back his trench coat , pulled out the laser pistol from its holster and aimed it at his old friend. "Now, it doesn't have to be like this!" He called. "Whatever 'gift' Slade gave you, it's yours now! You don't owe him anything! You haven't done anything yet that we can't gloss over, but if you do this…"

"Think about it!" Bard continued. "If this 'gift' is half as good as Slade says it is, you could be a Titan! You could live with us in Titans Tower! It'd be just like old times!"

Tim was silent for a moment as he considered that. But then, a strange green liquid flowed through the tubes and went directly into his neck.

"Arrrrrghghhh!" Tim screamed, but it wasn't a scream of pain. On the contrary, it was a scream of exhilaration and power. "Enough talk! It's time for me to whip your ass!" His voice was deeper and slightly slurred, but that was not what Bard noticed first. No, what he noticed first was that every single muscle in his body had doubled in size. Seeing that his old friend was about to attack, Bard pulled the trigger of the laser pistol.

**CLICK!**

Bard's eyes widened. This was _not_ a good time for jokes. He tried again.

**CLICK!**

'_How the hell do you reload this thing?!'_

His only reply was a huge punch connecting solidly with his forehead. But that wasn't all Tim did. Even as Bard flew back from the blow, Tim reached out with his other hand and tore the glasses off his face, nonchalantly tossing them over his shoulder behind him. Slowly getting back to his feet, Bard sweat dropped. Everything around him was a giant blur.

This was definitely _not_ good!

"What's the matter, Thelma?" Tim laughed, lowering his head like a bull getting ready to charge. "Did Scooby-Doo run into you and knock off your glasses?"

Slade was right. Tim did know him better than anyone. But then again, no one knew Tim better than Bard.

'_Five, four, three, two…'_

Suddenly, Bard dropped down lengthwise to his stomach. A split second later, he felt Tim's boot kick him lightly in the side and, after that, the big man tripped and fell to the concrete. Seizing the opportunity, Bard leapt up and ran over to where Tim had been standing before. Then, just like Tim had said, he dropped to his knees and began to search for his glasses just like Thelma. He knew he didn't have much time before Tim was on him again.

'_C'mon, c'mon, c'mon….aha!'_

Bard triumphantly put on his glasses…just in time to see Tim's giant fist at the last second.

"Ugh!" Bard felt the copper taste of blood on his tongue from where his lip had split open.

"Oof!" Tim hit him so hard in the stomach with a deadly uppercut that the air was forcibly pushed out of Bard's lungs and actually lifted him off his feet. Tim caught Bard midair, turned, and easily threw him through a plate glass window that had once read 'Tom and Jake's Barbershop'. Their were shrieks and startled curses as the inhabitants fled.

Before Bard could even think about getting up out of floor of glass, Tim was already leapt into the shop after him. Easily picking him up by the front of his trench coat, Tim held up Bard over his head with his lame arm hanging limply.

'_All right, Jonny. If you're gonna do something, you gotta do it now!'_

Taking a page directly from Ric Flair's book, Bard reached down and jabbed a thumb into Tim's eye. Letting go and clutching his eye, it gave Bard the opportunity to rear back his right cowboy boot and…

"Rauuuuuuuuugh!" Tim squealed and fell to his knees.

.

_Standing outside the fire!_

The fireball flew into Tim's chest and knocked him back out into the street.

But Bard knew that wouldn't keep his old friend down for long. Already he was starting to stir. And Bard knew that he couldn't stand toe to toe with his brute strength, especially with his lame arm. He had knocked him down, sure, but it had taken a lot of dirty tricks that Tim would be ready for in the second round. So, Bard did the smartest thing he could think of: He jumped into the T-Car and hightailed it like a coward.

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Back at Titans Tower, Bard patiently endured the stares for a whole minute before anyone spoke. His lip was bleeding, there was a bruise on his forehead and there was glass in his hair.

"Dammmmmn!" Cyborg burst out. "Wait a minute, my baby's okay, ain't she?"

"Dude, what in the hell happened to you? You get caught up in a _tornado_ or somethin'?" Beast Boy asked.

Starfire and Raven simply stared.

"Are you okay, Bard?" Robin asked, so concerned that he ignored both Beast Boy's and Cyborg's curses for the moment.

Bard nodded slowly, some glass falling out of his hair.

"I just had a fight with Tim." He muttered to them. "And I've got the bruises to prove it."

"Yeah, no kiddin'!" Beast Boy paused. "But dude, that Tim guy wasn't even _that_ strong!"

"Well, he is now." Bard told him. "He got these weird tubes sticking into his neck. This green stuff flowed into him though'em and he just…got big. _Really _big!"

Robin's eye slits narrowed.

"Bane!" He exclaimed.

"……?"

"He was a villain in Gotham City. He used the same technology." Robin explained. "And he was dangerous. _Extremely_ dangerous."

"Is it just me, or is all the news we've been getting lately bad?" Bard complained tiredly.

"Not all of it." Robin said. "I've been digging and Commissioner Walker just called and confirmed it. I found out what Slade wanted at the museum-"

"I don't mean to interrupt." Bard murmured. "But I just got taken to the wood shed. All I want to do is take a shower and curl up on my bed and die."

Robin looked at him sympathetically. The cowboy _did_ look pretty rough.

"All right," he agreed. "I'll come by and debrief you later."

"Thanks," Bard nodded gratefully, turned and trudged off to his room. This was the _second_ time he'd been beat up today, and it wasn't even halfway over yet!

This superhero thing was tough…


	22. False Hope

"_**Just because I - am - the - man **__doesn't mean I'm full of myself!" - Beast Boy_

_**CHAPTER TWENTY TWO**_

_**FALSE HOPE**_

Bard was dreaming; that exact same nightmare he had dreamed last night. Once again, he stood up on the stage with adoring, anticipating fans before him and the somehow music wary Teen Titans behind him with their respective instruments at the ready. And once again, Bard knew that everyone was waiting solely on him.

He winced inwardly in his sleep. He knew what would happen. Just like before, he wouldn't be able to lift his hand to play the guitar and, just like before, he would hear those loud boos that would chill his blood and then turn and gaze into the disappointed eyes of his friends that would turn it completely to ice.

But then a fiery spark of hope ignited within him. Maybe he _could_ do it! Hey, this was _his_ dream, after all, right?!

Bard looked down at the wooden, acoustic guitar hanging before him, and then down at his limp, unfeeling left hand. He _could_ do it! With all the will he could muster, he forced his left arm to raise. And it did! It rose steadily upwards towards the neck of the guitar and his fingers bent gracefully to form the first chord. He had done it!

Bard was so excited that he actually woke himself up. But when his dark blue eyes popped opened, there was a beatific smile on his bruised face.

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"Do you have my package, child?" Slade asked from behind his desk inside his strangely dark office.

"Of course!" Jinx pranced girlishly across the room and laid the black video cassette on his desk.

"And you recorded all of it?"

"Every single bit," The witch answered promptly.

"And did you interfere?" Slade pressed her.

"No, master."

"Excellent," Slade approved. "Very well done, child. You're dismissed."

Jinx nodded respectively.

"Before I go, I should tell you that Tim wants to see you."

Slade looked away thoughtfully for a moment.

"Give me ample time to view this, and then send him in." He ordered.

"Yes, master." Jinx left quietly, closing the door behind her.

When she was gone, Slade slowly unwound himself from his seat, picked up the tape and inserted it into one of the many televisions that were stacked upon each other. Flickering lights streaked and played across Slade's metal, tarnished mask as the televisions came to life. Intently, the villain watched the fight between Tim and Bard again and again. He smiled to himself as he watched the end for a third time.

Bard had poked his opponent in the eye and had then delivered a very unsavory blow beneath the belt. The young cowboy might call himself a hero now, Slade thought, but he was still the same desperate, parentless street urchin he always was.

But that wasn't what Slade thought was so interesting. The truly intriguing part of the footage was that Bard hadn't used his left arm though the whole battle. Not only that, but it had hung uselessly at his side during the whole exchange. Slade smiled again underneath his mask. Jinx's guess after the museum heist had been right.

Bard was paralyzed.

**WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!**

Slade's head came up, his train of though broken. Someone was banging on the door. A split second later, it was jerked open and Tim came striding through purposely.

"Why, greetings Tim. What-"

"What the hell's in this steroid stuff?" Tim demanded curtly, cutting the villain off.

"I could tell you, I suppose, but I doubt you would recognize any of the words."

"That's not what I meant!" Tim snarled. "Something in it makes me go all psycho! I was only gonna rough Jon up a little bit, but if he hadn't've gotten away, I'd've killed him!"

"Well, we certainly don't want that." Slade purred. "At least, not yet."

"I don't want that at _all_!" Tim yelled, bringing his fist down with such force on the desk that the wood cracked a bit in protest. "Now answer me! What is this stuff doin' to me?"

"It greatly speeds up your muscle growth."

"I know that, you lil' bastard! What's it doing to my brain?!"

"I'm surprised you haven't figured it out by now." Slade told him levelly. "It increases aggression. If you receive too much in a dose of the serum, it is quite possible that they will become…mentally unstable."

"Then take it outta me." Tim ordered him decisively.

"I can't do that."

Tim's dark green eyes grew dangerous. He reached out with both hands, gripped Slade's collar and jerked him up off the ground to meet him face to face.

"Can't, or won't?" He asked threateningly.

"Won't," Slade replied, his voice as cool and calm as ever.

Tim drew back a massive fist.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you." Slade warned calmly.

"And why not?"

"Because _I'm_ the one who controls when and how much Bane Serum is pumped into you. Is the satisfaction of hitting me worth going insane?"

Though his face looked slightly sick, Tim's fist didn't waver.

"I'd rather go ahead and end it now than be your slave."

"Then do it," Slade taunted hollowly.

A long moment passed between them. But then Tim's fist finally fell and he released Slade from his grip.

"As I thought," Slade said smugly. "However, I do not like keeping associates under my wing by the means of blackmail. Believe me, I know it doesn't work out. So, I will make you a deal. Are you interested?"

"I'm listenin'," Tim said reluctantly.

"Perform one last task for me, Tim, and I will remove my 'gift'." A pause. "You have my word of honor on it."

For some reason, that didn't make Tim feel the slightest bit better.

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Bard had slipped on his silver glasses and had sat up in his bed. The digital clock on his bedside drawer read '4:00' p.m. At first, Bard thought he had slept into the night, but then he saw the sunlight pouring in from his window.

Shrugging those thoughts off with his one good shoulder, he looked down at his lame arm. It was still unfeeling and unmoving. But wait… He had moved it in his dream, so who said he couldn't he move it now? Maybe he really _was_ only paralyzed temporarily! Concentrating as hard as he possibly could, Bard willed his arm to move.

'_Bend!'_

Bard's eyes widened beneath his spectacles. His arm had twitched! Just a fraction of an inch, perhaps, but it was more than enough to embolden Bard to try again.

_Bend!_

Nothing.

_Bend!_

Still nothing.

He tried time after time after time. But his arm obstinately refused to move. Perhaps he had jumped to conclusions earlier when he saw his arm twitch. Maybe he had just shifted his weight on the bed without noticing it, or something? Sighing, he sat on the edge of his bed to pull on his cowboy boots. He sure missed his hat. But wait a minute! He had an extra hat! He'd have to change clothes, but hey, a cowboy hat was a cowboy hat, right?

"Dude, you look a little…different." Beast Boy commented when Bard walked back into the main room of the tower.

"Yeah, well," Bard said, fingering his busted lip gingerly. "Getting beat up can have that effect on a man."

"That's not what I meant." Beast Boy shook his head. "You seem-"

"Brighter," Raven finished, peering at her brother from overtop her thick book.

Bard figured that it was probably true. He still wore his customary black cowboy boots and trench coat, but now his jeans were a lighter blue, he wore a white button up shirt unbuttoned at the collar and a white, beat-up cowboy hat.

"I reckon it's appropriate." Bard shrugged. "I _am_ supposed to be a white hat, after all."

"Uh…what?" Beast Boy asked.

"It's a cowboy thing." Bard explained. "Guys who wear black hats are the villains and guys who wear the white hats are the good guys."

Beast Boy blinked.

"You mean you were a bad guy before?" The changeling said.

Bard raised an eyebrow, but then he chuckled.

"No, Beast Boy. I just like the color black."

"….Oh, I knew that!"

"Of _course_ you did." Raven droned dryly.

"Where is everybody?" Bard asked then, seeing that only he, his sister and Beast Boy were present.

"Cy's on the roof shootin' hoops." Beast Boy said, ticking it off on his fingers. "And Robin and Starfire are "training"." The changeling help up his hands and fingers to make quotations marks.

"Oh…" Bard paused. "Wait a minute, there's a basketball court on the roof? How come I've never seen it before?"

"Probably because you were too busy smoking." Raven offered.

"Or listening to you flap your lips. I swear, girl, you never shut up." Bard shot back at her good naturedly, but then he looked at Beast Boy. "You know where Robin and Starfire are? I need to talk to him."

"What for?"

"He said he wanted to talk to me about what Slade wanted at the museum."

"A golden cross pendant was taken." Raven told him. "It was unearthed in Jerusalem and arrived at the museum two weeks ago. Rumor has it that it was touched by god and that it has powers, or some pointless nonsense."

"They found it in Jerusalem?" Bard asked, slightly surprised. "I figured the archeologists would have picked that place clean by now."

"I didn't say it was _found_ two weeks ago." Raven replied. "It was a family heirloom for a while, until finally it ended up in a pawn shop. The owner realized that it might be worth something, so he sold it to the museum. Robin will probably want to talk to you more about it because of its supposed 'powers'."

"Someone pawned it?" Beast Boy quipped. "Mustn't have been much of a heirloom then, huh?"

Bard barely heard the changeling.

"What would I know about it?" He asked his sister.

"On this chess board, you're our Bishop."

Bard blinked.

"…What?"

"You're the religious one." Raven explained. "Robin will want for you to legitimize the claim that it's possible for the pendant to be magic."

"What would I know about it?" Bard paused thoughtfully. "My first guess, though, is that it isn't. It _might_ be possible, I reckon, but God's never been the kind for magical relics and stuff."

"Dude, what about the Holy Grail?" Beast Boy pointed out.

"You've watched too many movies, BB." Bard replied. "I'm sure that it existed, but I don't think it has any magical stuff like, if you drink out of it, you'll be immortal and all that mess."

"Hey, I was just tryin' to help!" Beast Boy quipped. "So, you feelin' any better now?"

Bard nodded.

"Tim trashed you pretty good. How're you gonna take him down next time? Need my help?"

"There won't be a next time, BB."

"….Huh?"

"You have to know Tim." Bard told him. "He's got his little quirks, but he's really simple when it come to stuff like this. If you do something he doesn't like, he whips you're a-, er, butt. But after that, everything's cool again."

Beast Boy looked doubtful.

"No joke!" Bard said. "I bet you the next time I see'em, he'll be ready to make up."

"All right, whatever you say, dude."

"I think I'm going to go up and play some B-ball with Cy." Bard suggested to Beast Boy. "Wanna come?"

"I don't think so." Beast Boy refused. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm only about three feet tall!"

"So?" Bard shrugged. "You could play point guard or shootin' guard."

"Maybe if I could _shoot!_" Beast Boy muttered.

"You just need practice, then."

"Okay, now you're startin' to sound like Cy."

"He must know what he's talkin' about, then." Bard told him. "So, you comin' or not?"

"All right, all right, I'll come." Beast Boy gave in.

Bard looked over at his sister.

"How 'bout you?" He invited.

"……."

"All right," He joked. "You can put on your makeup and your cheerleading dress if you want, but don't take all day!"

"……" She glared, even as Beast Boy erupted with high-pitched laughter.

"That wasn't funny." Raven grated at her brother.

Bard smiled.

"Beast Boy's laughing, ain't he?" He asked her.

"So you're agreeing with me, then?"

Chuckling, Bard turned and lead Beast Boy towards the elevator.

"Want some company?" Bard asked as Cyborg easily leapt up and put in a lay up. Beast Boy had lead him over to the basketball court.

"Sure!" Cyborg accepted. "The more the merrier."

Bard took off his trench coat, and then laid his hat on top of it in an out of the way corner of the roof.

"You gonna be able to play in those cowboy boots?" Cyborg asked him, passing Bard the ball.

"Sure, I do everything with cowboy boots on."

Cyborg grinned.

"Everything?" He asked suggestively.

"Well," Bard conceded. "Just _about_ everything, that is."

The cowboy turned and leapt to take a ten footer…

"That sounded like a sexual comment."

**CLANK!**

The ball hit the back of the rim and bounced back.

"Raven!" Bard complained. "You made me miss!"

"I know," his sister replied with a small smirk. She walked several feet away, sat, and buried herself back into her book.

"Forget your cheerleading uniform?" Bard asked her, grinning.

"….It's in the wash."

Chuckling, Bard picked up the ball and once again tried the ten foot jump shot. A perfect, high arc and-

**SWISH!**

"Ha! Now _that's_ more like it!" He approved as he caught up with the ball. "Here, BB, take a shot." He bounce passed the green changeling the ball. Beast Boy looked uncertain as he looked up at the rim.

"C'mon, BB." Cyborg encouraged him. "The world ain't gonna end if you miss, man."

Shrugging, Beast Boy put up a shot. The orange ball hit the backboard, rolled around the rim and finally fell in.

"Yeah!" Bard cheered. "Two points for Beast Boy!"

"And you called _me_ a cheerleader?" Raven looked up from her book momentarily before diving her nose right back in.

"That's right, I'm good!" The old Beast Boy came back. For some reason, his lack of confidence in his basketball skill made him act slightly different in a way that Bard thought felt wrong. "Here, let me shoot again and _shower_ you all with my _greatness!"_

"All right, don't go gettin' full of ya self now!" Cyborg grinned, passing him the ball. "It was only one shot."

"Just because _I - am - the - man _doesn't mean I'm full of myself!"

"Just shoot!" Cyborg and Bard told him at the same time.

"Jeez, fine! Take a pill or somethin'!" Beast Boy shot again. The ball hit the back of the rim hard, hit the front of the rim, flew straight up, hit the back of the backboard and bounced off the roof. "Uh….oops."

"Aw, man!" Cyborg groaned, putting his hand on his hips. "We're gonna have to go all the way down there and get it now!"

"There's no need." Raven told him calmly, standing up. "Axarath, Metrion-"

But there was no need for that either. Before she could finish chanting her magic words, the orange basketball rocketed back up along side the huge building. All four of them stared up in disbelief as the ball came down. Raven was the first to recover, and she reached out her hands and awkwardly caught the ball.

"Uh, is there a cannon down there or somethin'?" Beast Boy asked incredulously.

Deciding not to answer that, Bard loped over to the edge, with his friends following behind him, and stared down.

"Tim," Bard breathed satisfactorily.

"Dude, you won't jokin' when you said he was strong!" Beast Boy said. "He just threw that ball up like seventy stories!"

"Seventy five," Cyborg corrected, still looking down with shocked eyes.

"He'd have a heck of a fast ball, then." Beast Boy joked.

"What are we gonna do?" Raven droned, looking over at her brother.

"I don't know what _we_ are gonna do." He replied. "_I'm_ gonna go down there and talk to him. Ya'll can come if you want."

Stopping only briefly to pick up and put on both his hat and trench coat, Bard leapt off the roof. Halfway down, he begin to hum the wind song and the invisible gusts righted him and laid him gently on the ground. Beside him, Raven touched down gracefully and, in the form of pterodactyl, Beast Boy put Cyborg on the solid ground safely and then he reverted to his regular form.

"Tim, it's good to see you." Bard greeted his old friend. He paused. "…It _is_ good, right?"

"What?" Tim rumbled. "Oh, yeah, yeah, I got that all that outta of my system earlier."

"I figured that was the case." Bard unconsciously brought a hand to his split lip.

"Sorry," Tim muttered an apology. "I got a lil carried away."

"I know," Bard grinned wryly. "I've got the bruises to prove it. But that's all right. Actually, you should be proud of yourself. That's the first one on one fight I've ever lost."

Surprisingly, Tim didn't have a smart comment for that compliment. Instead:

"What's up with your arm?"

Both Beast Boy and Cyborg looked away a little uncomfortably. Even Raven cast her eyes to the side quickly.

"It's just temporarily paralyzed." Bard answered lightly. "It oughta be okay in a few days."

Tim nodded. There was an awkward silence.

"Oh! Let me introduce you to my friends." Bard reached up to put a hand on Tim's bulky shoulder and turned towards the Titans. "This is Beast Boy."

Neither of them extended a hand.

"You sure are a small one, ain't ya?"

"Would you like to meet Mr. T-Rex again?" Beast Boy retorted with a lightning quick delivery.

"Uh," Bard quickly put himself between the two. "And this is Cyborg."

"Nice to meetchya." Tim tried to be a little bit more polite this time. He reached out and shook Cyborg's metal hand. "Firm grip, I like that." He commented to the half-robot.

"And last but not least, this is Raven." Bard introduced him.

Tim looked hard at her bare legs.

"Nice outfit," he told her suggestively.

"Whoa, tiger." Bard warned him. "That's my sister, so if you even _think_ about her wrong, I won't hesitate to kill ya."

Both Tim and Raven blinked at that.

"You have a sister?"

"Long story," Bard continued. "So, what are you planning to do now?"

Tim pulled at his short red beard sheepishly.

"You think we can talk alone for a minute?" He asked.

"Sure,"

"But dude-" Beast Boy objected.

"Hey, it's all right." Bard replied. "Plus, if something _does_ happen, we won't be _that_ far away, right?"

Beast Boy looked dubious, but he remained silent. The two old friends, Tim and Bard, walked perhaps a hundred yards away and ducked around the corner of Titans Tower.

"What's up?" Bard asked him then.

"Slade won't let me go."

"That don't surprise me, for some reason." Bard muttered. "What's he got on you?"

"Uh, I can't say…" Tim said. "But he said if I do one more thing for him, he'll let me go."

"What's he want you to do?"

"..Bring you to him."

Bard sighed.

"That don't surprise me, either. You have any idea why?"

Tim shook his head.

"All right, this is how we'll do it." Bard decided. "I'll go with you so you can fulfill your obligation to Slade or whatever. But let me tell Robin where I'm going first. Actually, this might be a good thing. We might be able to take down Slade. Wait here." He turned to head back to the tower.

"I can't let ya do that, Jon."

Bard stopped and faced him again.

"Can't?"

"……."

"……"

Tim swung a huge fist in a wide arc, but Bard was ready. He ducked underneath the massive blow and countered with a quick kick to his jaw that forced the big man to stumble back a step.

"How'd ya know it was coming?" Tim wiped at his mouth with his forearm where a small trickle of blood had escaped the corner of his lip. The two circled each other warily.

"You were holdin' your breath." Bard replied tensely. "How did you think I always knew when you were bluffin' in poker?"

Dark, blue waves crashed again emerald fire as the two stared intensely at each other. Then, with simultaneous war cries, they both leapt forward.

Round Two had begun…


	23. Round Two

"_**How do you**__ like gettin' tossed around?" - Bard_

_**CHAPTER TWENTY THREE**_

_**ROUND TWO**_

"_I think business is about to pick up, folks! This is gonna be a real slobber knocker!"_

Bard could almost hear the southern twanged voice of a wrestling announcer in his head as he and Tim circled around each other, eyeing each other warily next to one side of Titans Tower.

"Rrrraaugh!"

"Grrrraugh!"

With simultaneous war cries, both Tim and Bard leapt at each other. Tim went high, throwing a huge, bear-like swipe at his opponent, but Bard went low. He rolled under the attack, leapt back up to his feet and kicked the back of Tim's leg before backing up to a safe distance again.

"You're gonna have'ta do more than that." Tim growled.

"I know," Came Bard's emotionless reply.

The two circled each other again, their eyes searching for any telltale hint or give away of where the next attack would be coming from. Tim stepped forward and lifted a combat boot to smash it into Bard's face, but the cowboy ducked under the high, front kick to end up behind him and countered with an back elbow to Tim's lower back. Bard retreated away again.

He could see that Tim was starting to get frustrated. Tim knew he was stronger, but that didn't mean a damn thing if he couldn't get his hands him. As they eyed each other again, Bard knew that what he was doing now was only a delaying tactic. Sooner or later…

Tim jumped forward again, swinging his fist in a wide arc. Bard ducked under the blow, shot back up and-

**SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!**

He had jabbed Tim in the face three times in quick succession with his right hand before dancing away like a featherweight boxer, his lame arm swinging limply at his side. Again they circled each other.

"You k now this is just like a rasslin' match, don'tcha?" Tim snarled. "On one side of the ring, ya got the big, strong guy, and on the other side ya got the little, speedy guy. The speedy guy puts up a good fight for a while, but in the end, the big guy catches him and the match is over. One - two - three."

"I hate to break it to ya, partner, but wrestling's fake!"

With a shout, Tim charged him with his head down like a battering ram. His body was so huge that Bard had nowhere to go but up. Without time to hum his wind song for support, he leapt as high as he possibly could using his purely physical athleticism alone to jump over the NFL-like tackle.

But Tim was ready for that. As soon as Bard's boots left the ground, he righted himself, leapt up, caught his old friend by the neck with one awesomely muscled arm and drove him down into the ground back first with such impact that it actually created a small crater. Bard saw stars, but Tim wasn't finished yet. He reached down, grabbed the front of Bard's trench coat and effortlessly slung him ten yards away, away from the tower. Bard bounced and rolled lifelessly until his inertia brought him to a stop.

"Had enough?" Tim called to his prone form. "Ready to go see Slade now?"

Bard didn't answer. He was too busy climbing slowly and painfully to his feet.

"That cowboy toughness is kickin' in, huh?" A pause. "Why don'tcha just stay down?" Tim said in an almost pleading tone. "I'm gonna take you to Slade either way, ya know."

But Bard wasn't listening to him. He held his right hand up palm out, straight at his old friend.

_Blow, blow, Seminole Wind!_

**SWOOOOOSSSHHH--CRASH!**

Gale-like winds flared up out of nowhere, picked Tim up like a feather and smashed him into the thick, concrete outer wall of the tower. Tim slid limply out of the crater as chunks of gray concrete came down around him and fell to his knees.

Bard absently cracked his neck, his narrowed, determined blue eyes never leaving Tim's form. If Tim wanted a fight, a fight was what he was going to get.

The gloves were off.

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"I don't like this." Beast Boy complained. He, Cyborg and Raven still stood in front of the tower where Bard and his friend Tim had left them. "I'm tellin' ya, that Tim guy is bad news! I trust him 'bout as far as I can throw him!"

"Heh, that ain't very far at all." Cyborg grinned. "But I don't know, BB, he seems cool enough to me."

"Cool enough?!" Beast Boy objected shrilly. "That's because you ain't never had to fight him, dude! And, _helllllllo!?_ He was in that gang Slade owned and, in case you've forgotten, now he's Slade's right hand man!"

"Bard trusts him," Raven told them.

"Of _course_ Bard trusts him! They used to be friends back in the day." Beast Boy argued. "People do change, ya know!"

"People don't change, Beast Boy." Raven said. "Whatever they are now is what they always were and always will be."

"Oh, yeah?" Beast Boy rebutted her angrily. "What about Terra?!"

"………."

"………."

Beast Boy was breathing hard from his shouting and his emotional outburst.

"…Fine," Raven finally muttered. "If it will make you feel better, I'll call Robin. He needs to know about this, anyway. But Bard can take care of himself."

"What makes you say that?" Cyborg asked, less out of curiosity than to vanquish the tension that had rose up between the three of them.

"He's been taking martial art classes lately." She told him absently. "Ninjitsu," She reached under her cloak for her communicator and-

**CRASH!**

Cyborg's head jerked towards the sound.

"What was that?" He asked quickly.

"Bard…" Raven muttered.

"He's in trouble, let's go!"

Beast Boy lead the way, loping quickly in the form of a shaggy, green wolf until…

**ZAP!**

The three Titans slid to a stop as a smoking hole appeared in the ground before them.

"Where do you think you're going?" Jinx called down to them with a cheeky grin.

Looking up quickly, they saw that Jinx and Kitten were on separate, round hovercrafts of some kind, floating above them. Without missing a beat, Beast Boy changed into a green hawk and tried to fly towards Kitten, but the blonde haired villain kept him away with her laser blasts. All the changeling could do was swoop left and right to avoid the shots, but at least it kept her too preoccupied to shoot at his friends.

Cyborg changed his arm into his trademark sonic cannon and shot a thick, blue beam at Jinx. The sorceress veered her hovercraft out of the way just in time and flung down a pink hex bolt. It hit dead on with Cyborg's sonic cannon and his arm began to smoke and short out.

"Aw, man!" The robot Titan complained. "I just fixed that, too!"

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

Black energy encased Jinx's hovercraft. With a thought, Raven jerked the device out from underneath her and crashed it into the ground. Jinx fell, but at the last instant she flipped and landed on her feet gracefully. She ran straight for Raven, jumped and tried for a side kick, but Raven was able to block it with a wave of obsidian energy. She wasn't, however, able to block the quick follow up attack when Jinx performed a spinning leg sweep.

With Raven on her back, Jinx turned…just in time to see a big, metal fist coming right at her. She let out a cry of surprise and ducked under the blow just in time. Then she thrust a hex bolt just as Cyborg turned back towards her that caught him full in the chest. Cyborg got up, gritting his teeth.

Where was Robin and Starfire when you needed them?

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Bard couldn't waste the opportunity he had before him. Tim was down, and when a man was down on the ground, it didn't matter how big or tall he was. Bard ran forward quickly and determinedly and stomped at his old friend with his cowboy boot for all he was worth. But he was only able to get in three or four good licks before Tim pushed him away mightily.

"How do _you_ like gettin' tossed around?" Bard asked him viciously as he watched his old friend rise to his feet.

But Tim was shaking his head as if he were fed up with something.

"This has gone too far, Jon!" He shouted to him. "I don't give a damn what Slade does to me anymore! We need to- Ahhrrrrrghh!"

Bard watched numbly as the green venom ran through the clear tubes and into Tim. And then he began to expand before the cowboy's, even bigger than last time. He was at least seven or eight feet tall and his chest was as wide as half of Bard's height.

Tim laced his hands over his head and leapt at Bard to smash down at him. Bard dodged just in the nick of time, but Tim's sledgehammer-like fists made another big crater in the ground. Bard sweat dropped. That _could_ have been him! He had to do _something_ before Tim attacked again!

Humming loudly, Bard took a move from Starfire's book: He began to fling fiery white fireballs at his opponent. The first one hit Tim in the shoulder, forcing him back a step. The second one hit him fully on his wide chest and the next one hit him right in the face, singeing his hair and beard. But Tim refused to go down. He covered himself up with his huge arms like a boxer on the ropes and waited for the abuse to stop.

Bard knew he couldn't keep this up forever, and even if he could, it wouldn't help him much anyway. He wasn't going to be able finish him with a fireball. It was going to have to be something else… Desperately, he flung out last fireball and then pointed at the ground with his good hand.

_Diggin' up bones, I'm diggin' up bones!_

There was an earsplitting cracking as the earth underneath Tim broke apart and opened up like a great gaping mouth to swallow him whole. Tim fell into the fissure, and Bard closed his eyes in concentration. When he reopened them, the canyon had closed shut. Panting from exertion, Bard fell to his knees, exhausted. Not just physically, but emotionally as well. He had just killed his best friend; entombed him in an earthy, dark grave. But what else he could have done? He truly didn't know.

Bard didn't feel the shaking at first, so wrapped up he was in his thoughts. But then the small, numerous rocks that littered the ground all around him began to shake and clatter. He jerked his head up in surprise. There was a rumbling underneath the earth, as if a great struggle was going on in its depths.

**CRACK!**

As Bard watched in disbelief, the fissure reappeared and Tim leapt out of it. He was sweating and flecks of dirt riddled his body, but besides that he was not damaged. He had actually pushed the earth back apart with nothing but his brute strength!

**WHAM!**

The body blow Tim delivered hit Bard right in the ribs and sent him half spinning and half flipping into the air. He landed hard on his stomach, rolled to his back and clutched his ribs with his good hand, struggling to breathe. Slowly, _very_ slowly, Bard climbed to his feet on sheer will alone. He had nothing left.

When he looked up, Tim was already charging at him, and Bard knew with cold certainty that this fight was over. All he could do was cover his face with his good hand and tense up.

Tim side kicked Bard's feet from underneath him with such force that the cowboy found himself cart wheeling madly in the air, his black trench coat and crippled arm flapping in the wind. Tim reached out and grabbed Bard by his belt. Turning, he slung him at the tower. Bard hit the concrete hard and the back of his head bounced off it like a rubber ball. He fell to the ground unconscious.

Tim stepped over to him with a vicious, unstable grin. He lifted his giant fist to deliver the finishing blow… But then liquid flowed through the tubes in his neck again, but it wasn't green. It was white instead. Slowly, Tim returned to his normal size. Breathing heavily and shaking his head to get rid of the cobwebs, he looked down at his friend's prone body grimly. The cowboy was in bad shape. He was breathing shallowly, his arm and face were scratched up and his trench coat was in tatters.

And it was all because of Tim. But this wasn't some punk on the street. This was Jonny. His best friend, brother, minister and father rolled all into one.

"I hope God forgives me for this. I know no one else will." Tim sighed bitterly.

He lifted Bard up on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and turned to leave. But something made him stop. Turning back to their battlefield, Tim saw Bard's white cowboy hat from where it had fallen off unnoticed sometime during the fight. Striding over to it, Tim picked it up with his free arm.

Then he turned and lumbered away with Bard in tow.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

'Hyagh!"

Cyborg tried for his famous left hook, but Jinx ducked under it. Then a right uppercut, but Jinx sidestepped it and kicked him hard in the knee. Cyborg stumbled back, frustrated. He ran forward and tried to grab her, but Jinx leapt up through his grasp and kicked him hard in the face with her platform shoe. Cyborg went sprawling to the ground.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

Jinx leapt over the huge rock Raven had chucked at her with her black energy, but as soon as she landed, she was caught with a backhand across the face. She stumbled back slightly, but quickly righted herself. The dark sorceress and the pink witch squared off against each other.

Silently, Raven leapt forward for a spinning back kick. Jinx flipped and leapt over the attack…

**POW!**

Only to be met in midair by Robin's metal toed shoe. She hit the ground, but rolled quickly to her feet.

**PFFT!**

"'Bout time you got here!" Cyborg exclaimed from somewhere in the back ground.

Robin ran straight for the witch, twirling his metal staff above his head with incredible speed and dexterity. Jinx ducked the first swipe of the weapon and jumped over the second one directed at her feet. She let loose a hex bolt into his face, looked up and ran. Green star bolts exploded around the witch as she ran for all she was worth.

"Kitten!" She yelled upwards in midst a running stride. "It's time to go!"

Kitten nodded, swooped down on her hovercraft, picked up Jinx and sped away through the air.

"After them!" Robin barked, bending his legs to spring forward.

"Wait!" Raven yelled, a strange note of authority in her voice. "They were just a distraction."

"A distraction?" Robin asked. "From what?"

"It's Bard!" Beast Boy said, running over to join them. "He was talkin' with Tim!"

"Where?"

"Over here, c'mon!"

Once again, Beast Boy led the way as everyone followed. They all stopped when they reached the place where Tim and Bard had 'talked'. There were two, man-sized dents in the concrete on the side of the tower, several craters smashed in the ground, burnt grass that had yet to go entirely out and a huge fissure in the earth.

"There was a fight here." Robin said.

"No kiddin'!" Beast Boy quipped, his eyes wide. "Looks like a freakin' battlefield from the World War II or somethin'!"

Robin walked forward, crouched and laid his gloved hand into one of the craters, looking intently at the fight scene. "I can't tell who won." He announced finally.

"Bard lost," Raven deadpanned. "Why else isn't he here?"

"But where would this Tim take our friend?" Starfire asked.

"Slade," Robin growled in answer.

"But why would Slade want Bard?" Cyborg wanted to know.

"I don't know," the Boy Wonder answered him. "But I aim to find out."

"But how're we supposed to find him?" Beast Boy asked.

"That shouldn't be a problem." Robin replied. "I put a tracking device in that trench coat I made him."

Beast Boy blinked.

"Why'd ya do that?"

Robin actually looked a little ashamed of himself.

"After the event in the gully," he explained. "I wanted to keep tabs on him. Just in case."

"You didn't trust him?" Beast Boy asked his leader incredulously. "Even after he saved Raven?!"

"……"

"This bickering is pointless." Raven told them. "All that matters now is that we find him."

"Raven's right," Robin agreed. "Let's go."

Back in the main room of Titans Tower, Robin sat down at the computer and typed away with his gloved hands. A two dimensional schematic of Jump City appeared on the computer screen.

"So where is he?" Cyborg asked.

Robin typed a bit more and stared at the screen though his eye mask.

"There!" He pointed at a blinking white dot.

"He is in the ocean?" Starfire asked, staring at the blinking dot surrounded with blue. "The villains did not abandon him in the water, did they."

"I don't think so," Robin shook his head. "Unless, of course, Bard can swim sixty miles an hour." The blinking dot disappeared and reappeared further out into the blue that represented the ocean.

"My guess is that he's in a speed boat." Robin continued.

"Let's go then," Raven suggested.

Robin shook his head again.

"Not yet,"

"Not yet?" Beast Boy repeated. "But Bard could be hurt or somethin'!"

"I don't think so," Robin replied. "If Slade wanted to…to get him out of the way, he would have had Tim do it right here at the tower. No, he wants him alive for something. If we wait, we can find out where Slade is."

"It's dangerous," Raven warned him.

"I know, but Bard can take care of himself. We'll sit tight for right now, but get ready to move out soon."

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Tim sat in the driver's seat of the speed boat, gripping the steering wheel as the ocean sighed and the motor roared in his ears. He navigated the rocketing boat around the frothing and bigger waves as much as he could, but sometimes he was forced to speed right through them. He looked over at Bard's still unconscious form where the cowboy was slumped forward against the seat belt that kept him in his seat.

Tim knew he wasn't in very good shape, and this bumpy boat ride probably wasn't helping any. But there was nothing he could do. But wait a minute, maybe there was. Keeping one hand firmly on the steering wheel, he reached behind him with a searching hand and finally found Bard's white cowboy hat. He looked over at his old friend and placed it firmly on his head. He was slumped forward into the wind, so Tim figured it wouldn't blow off. It wasn't much, but it made Tim feel better.

"Hang in there, Jon." He muttered. "We'll be there in a lil bit."

Tim turned away and glued his eyes to the ocean, navigating the boat and cutting through the waves, unaware that the Teen Titans knew exactly where he was.


	24. Captured

"_I see the redhead snagged Jon. Sorry to see she had to conk him over the head to do it, though." - Tim_

_**CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR**_

_**CAPTURED**_

Darkness.

Solid and palpable.

Pushing at him, probing…

Bard was in a universe of eternal night. But this wasn't a mountain night or a city night. It didn't have the clean or wholesome characteristic of _any_ of the nights on earth. This darkness was dirty. Vile. Corrupt. As if all the evil in the starry universe lived and breathed and watched belligerently from it's inky depths. The ground he stood on was lifelessly dark, hard and icy cold. Tall, dead grass that was an unwholesome gray color rippled like a tide around him in the brisk, chill winds that buffeted him and sent his brown strands flying about him. It was a place that turned everything good and holy into its evil counterpart. A place where fear lived and stalked its conjurer.

This was the Valley of Death.

At least, it was Bard's mental image of the Valley of Death. He was dreaming and the cowboy knew it. But he also knew that this felt strange…almost surreal. There was a knobby, wooden staff in his left hand; his fully functioning left hand. And he clung to it as if it were his only defense against the evil and dangers around him.

Bard looked up at the black sky, but it wasn't entirely black. Slowly, he perceived flickering images of his life as if the sky were a huge movie screen. The images didn't appear to be in any coherent or chronological order. They flashed before his eyes randomly.

_Jonny and Amber in each others arms on a grassy bluff above his small, mountain hometown, kissing passionately._

_Jonny and Tim arm wrestling in the orphanage, Jonny sweating and straining mightily before he was finally put down by Tim's brute strength._

_Bard and Starfire sitting at a diner table, Bard reaching across it to grasp the Tammaranian's slender hand._

_Bard in the museum, flipping backwards through the air madly with his trench coat smoking and flapping madly_

_Jonny tied at the wrist with Big D, leaping forward with a switchblade and slashing his opponent across the chest, the dark red blood spurting._

_Jonny on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, cruising down a nameless highway away from a sinful and painful past he wanted simply to forget._

_Bard on his knees beside his sister Raven's still, dead form, crying his eyes out._

_Bard in a run-down warehouse, being stabbed in the arm by a nameless punk…_

Bard finally jerked his eyes away, unwilling to watch the 'show' any longer. Most were painful memories anyway, and he knew they would only get worse as they went along. He sighed. It seemed to him as if he had lived two totally different lives: The desperate, corrupt and orphaned gang member Jonny and the faithful, God-fearing superhero Bard. It seemed that Bard and Jonny were two different entities in one body. Hopefully, Bard's good acts now would somehow offset the desperate, corrupt sins of his not so distant past, where he had been called Jonny…

Bard looked forward and gasped. Amber was there! She was facing him, smiling with tinkling light blue eyes. God, she was beautiful. She was like a single lit candle in a room of darkness. Even in this barren, frightening valley, she made everything seem infinitely times brighter.

But then Bard's eyes widened in horror. The embodiment of death was behind her, the Grim Reaper himself. And Amber was totally unaware. The reaper of souls was just like he was in all the movies and books. He was a gaunt, almost skeletal figure wrapped up in a hooded, black as night robe. In his hand was a frightening scythe that chilled the blood. The weapon was a long staff with a wicked-looking blade on the end of it. He lifted up the weapon to strike. Bard tried to call out, to give her any kind of warning, but the words refused to leave his throat.

There was no blood. The weapon sliced through her as if she were only a ghost, an insubstantial shade. But then she slowly toppled to the ground. The scythe hadn't killed her body, it had taken her soul…

Bard awoke with a start, and the first thing he knew was pain. He was bruised all over and there was a burning knot on the back of his head under his hat, but the real agony was in his ribs. He was in a dark board room, sitting at the head of a long, lacquered table. He barely noticed Kitten and Jinx standing to one side of the room and…

"I see you are awake, young Bard."

Bard raised his head to look at Slade with glazed blue eyes.

"You've got a real knack for stating the obvious, do you know that?"

"Hmph, charming." Slade murmured. "Tell me, do you know why I brought you here?"

"Hmmm," Bard said tiredly, giving a mocking show of thinking about it. "It must be 'cause you're jealous of my rugged good looks and sexy ways."

"You're frivolity is…irritating." Slade told him, his voice deceptively calm. Slowly, deliberately, he buried a metal gauntleted fist into Bard's ribs.

"Arhhhhhh!"

Kitten let out a small smile of cruel satisfaction.

"Now, perhaps, you'll show me my due respect." Slade purred evilly, turning his back on his hostage. "If you cooperate, perhaps I'll have your ribs bandaged and seen to. They are obviously cracked. So, let me ask you again: Do you know why I brought you here?"

"…….No," Bard uttered through gritted teeth, glaring hard at Slade's back.

"You disappoint me, Bard. I thought you would have figured it out by now." The villain turned to look into Bard's face closely. "I want to meet your father."

Somehow, Bard didn't let his face betray any outward shock at that, probably because it was contorted in pain. But he had to be _really_ careful here.

"What are you talkin' about?" He asked slowly. "We both know that I don't have a father."

"Everyone has a father, Bard."

"All right then, I don't have a father that I know. Happy?" Bard spat out.

"Not for a long time now." Slade murmured an answer. A pause. "We both know to whom I speak, Bard. This charade is pointless."

Bard stared hard at his enemy from behind his glasses, trying to see if he was bluffing or not. With that damn mask on, it was impossible to tell.

"How would you know my father?" Bard asked hesitantly. It seemed like a safe enough question; it didn't give anything away.

"I've spoken with him on a number of occasions." Slade admitted. "Quite an…interesting person, wouldn't you say?"

Bard let out a silent sigh of relief. Slade had zigged somewhere where he should have zagged.

"And I did it using this," Slade continued. He pointed a metal gauntleted finger at the floor. Bard followed with his eyes…

It was that same symbol again! The one that had been etched into the floor of that old cabin! And once again the sight of it chilled Bard's blood.

'_Okaaaay, maybe Slade __**had**__ zagged….'_

"Why would you want to meet the devil?" Bard asked, dropping the act. "He'd just assume kill ya then look as ya. You have to know that."

"I am well aware of his…impulsiveness." Slade reached into a compartment in his belt. "However, I have taken the proper precautions." He brought out a thick, golden necklace.

It was the cross pendant that Jinx and Kitten had stolen from the museum! The one that was supposedly touched by God. Bard looked at it intently. He felt something from it…and suddenly he was absolutely sure that is _was_ holy. But how he could perceive such a thing, he did not know. He barely registered the fact that a slight burning sensation was in his left shoulder at the sight of the necklace.

"You really think _that _necklace will protect you from Satan?" Bard half sneered. "You know, the Lord of Darkness?" Maybe he could plant a few doubts…

"That is what I want you to tell me." Slade told him. "Has this pendant been touched by God?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"Come now, Bard." Slade chided, steel in his voice. "We both know you are…somewhat more intimately involved with God then most people."

Silence…

"…You mind if I light a cigarette?" Bard asked finally.

"By all means,"

Bard took his time lighting up a cigarette.

"………………." He exhaled smoke.

"Has this pendant been touched by the higher power?" Slade asked again.

"Patience," Bard retorted, trying his best not to grin as he threw the villain's words back in his teeth. "You must have patience, friend Slade." He exhaled smoke again. Slade did need him alive, after all, right? Might as well tweak his nose a little…

Slade's only visible eye narrowed dangerously, and Bard thought for a moment that maybe his 'tweaking' was overdoing it a little bit. But then Slade laughed! A dusty, cold laugh that was muffled slightly behind his mask.

"Why you joined the Teen Titans escapes me, Bard." he said then. "You have always had the heart of a villain." He took in a breath. "But you _will_ tell me what I want to know. Or else…"

"Or else what?"

"Or else I'll begin cutting off body parts." Slade told him coldly. "I think I'll let Kitten here pick the first part to go. I think we both know which part she will choose to go first, correct?"

Jinx brought a hand over her mouth, Kitten smiled evilly again and Bard's blood froze in his veins.

'_This is __**definitely **__not good!'_

"It doesn't matter what you do to me." Bard uttered hollowly, like an actor who doesn't like his script. "I'll never tell you anything!" He spat.

"Admirable," Slade commented. "But we will see how strong you conviction truly is." He turned to Kitten. "Go find me a dagger, child."

Kitten left the room a lot more quickly and enthusiastically than Bard would have hoped. She seemed to be actually skipping! He took another drag off his cigarette, his mind working in overdrive. He had to do something now, because in a few minutes, he might not even technically be a man anymore!

Okay, Bard, you have to come up with something now! He glanced over at Slade and then at Jinx. He couldn't fight his way out of here. He couldn't beat Slade one on one when he was in the best of shape; he knew there was no way he could win now, not to mention the presence of Jinx.

Maybe he could disrupt their plan! But what exactly did they plan to do? Slade wanted to meet the devil, and for that he needed him. And he needed the pendant to protect himself…The pendant!

Bard 'accidentally' dropped his cigarette. Slade had turned to say something to Jinx at that exact moment, but Bard wasn't listening. The cowboy bent over, trying to ignore the pain in his ribs, and went to act like he was simply picking up the dropped cigarette. But instead, he slowly lifted up the pant of his jeans and reached into his boot…

**SKNNIT!**

Bard leapt forward, the pain in his ribs peripheral to his senses.

"Ahhhrgh!"

Slade turned and caught Bard's right wrist at the last second. The villain turned his only visible eye down to stare at the glittering switchblade Bard held poised in his hand.

"No wonder I've always liked you, Bard." Slade purred. "That was downright treacherous. However…"

**WHAP!**

Bard went flying back from Slade's high front kick that caught him right in the jaw and hit the back wall of the boarding room. He slumped down to the ground.

"You _will_ tell me what I want to know, Bard." Slade threatened, handling Bard's switchblade expertly. "And I already have a knife to speed things along, if necessary."

Bard clouded eyes tried to focus. This was going to be the end, one way or another. It was time for one more last ditch effort!

_The thunder rolls, and the lightning strikes!_

**CRACK!**

A blue lightning bolt shot out of Bard's outstretched hand and hit Slade directly in the chest. The gold cross pendant flew out of his hand and up into the air as, trailing smoke, Slade went flying backwards. Bard looked up at where the cross pendant was nearing it's peak in the air. He had to get it! He glanced over at Jinx and saw that she was thinking the exact same thing.

Bard ran across the room toward his goal, but Jinx was ready. Just as he was drawing near, she launched a kick at him. The cowboy was able to duck in the nick of time and leap for the prize. But somehow, Jinx was able to grasp his right hand tightly just as his boots left the ground.

The head director in the sky flipped the film to slow motion. Jinx had gripped Bard's right hand to keep him from reaching the pendant, but Bard was a lot larger than she was. Jinx's small weight was taken along for the ride, but she still clutched his only functioning hand. The burning in his left shoulder intensified as the cross pendant came nearer and nearer. He couldn't let Jinx have it. He had to catch it!

The golden cross pendant fell into Bard's outstretched left hand.

Time resumed and Bard and Jinx landed hard on the long board table. Jinx let go of the cowboy at the impact and Bard rolled off the table to the floor, still holding the cross pendant to his chest tightly with his left feeling hand. He was too shocked and surprised to marvel at the small miracle yet.

"Titans, go!" Bard heard Robin's familiar, confident voice ring out, but he couldn't see any of them from under the table. He lifted his cowboy hat and put the cross pendant around his neck. Then, he laboriously pulled himself to his feet, putting both his hands on the table for added leverage. He had half expected for a major battle to be going on, but that wasn't the case. Slade had disappeared, and out of the corner of his eyes he was a flash of pink as Jinx escaped down a hallway.

"We have to find Bard," Raven was saying to Robin. The Boy Wonder nodded.

"We should-"

"I'm here," Bard announced, slowly standing up from behind the long table.

"Bard!" The Teen Titans gasped as almost one person.

Bard blinked.

"Uh, yeah, that's me." He nodded hesitantly.

"Are you damaged?" Starfire asked, concern in her green eyes.

"Damaged?" Beast Boy repeated. "Just look at'em! He looks like sh-"

"Shomeone beat the crap out of him!" Cyborg covered for the green changeling nervously.

"Are you all right?" Robin asked Bard seriously.

"I'll live," Bard replied. "I think I have a cracked rib or two, though."

"We'll get that taken care of." Robin assured him.

Raven had yet to say anything to her brother. The cowboy and the sorceress locked eyes for a moment, and everything was okay again. They both broke the gaze.

"Can we get out of here, now?" Bard asked them. "I have bad memories here. I was just threatened with-" He stopped and glanced at Starfire. "Well, something that man should never be threatened with." He concluded lamely.

"Ouch!" Beast Boy commented.

"Exactly," Bard confirmed. "So, can we…" He left it hanging suggestively.

Robin nodded.

"Jinx and Slade are probably long gone by now, anyway." He agreed.

They headed out of the room into a large lobby with plush furniture, twin elevators, a flight of stairs and a large window. Bard peeked out of the glass and saw that they were right next to the ocean and very high up. Robin reached the stairs and began to descend.

"The elevators are right there." Bard pointed out.

"Might be booby-trapped." Robin told him. "Better to be safe than sorry."

Bard grumbled under his breath about that.

"Hehehehehe," Beast Boy snickered. "Robin said 'booby'!"

"……."

"Ya'll know that was funny!"

Bard was last one to reach the flight of stairs and looked down disparagingly at them. This was _not_ going to be fun. He took the first step and, after a sharp jolt of pain in his side, he used both hands to hold his weight on the rail. He suddenly grinned at that.

"Hey, ya'll," he called up to his friends. "Notice anything different about me?"

They turned and stared blankly at him.

"Beside the fact you look like you had a sky diving accident?" Beast Boy quipped.

Bard waved at them with his left hand. It took them a moment to piece that together….

"Whoa!"

"Cool!"

"…."

"I knew your appendage would be most undamaged!"

"It's as good as ever?" Robin asked him.

Bard nodded.

"But-"

"I'm happy you're all right." Robin told him sincerely. "But we need to get back to the tower. This was Slade's headquarters, and it could have all kinds of dangers here."

They started off again. Bard took one soft and careful step at a time, leaning heavily on the rail to keep the weight off his ribs.

"Hurry up, Bardie!" Beast Boy yelled up at him from two flight down.

Bard groaned.

Starfire flew up to him, observing his pitiful walk compassionately. Bard knew exactly what she was about to say.

"Perhaps it would be more efficient if I were to carry-"

"No!" Bard sweat dropped at Starfire's hurt and surprised reaction to his outburst. "Uh, what I mean is, I don't want you to strain yourself…"

"But it would be no strain at all!" Starfire protested. "I am at least ten, perhaps fifteen, times stronger than you are! It will be no trouble."

"_That_ makes me feel real manly…" The cowboy muttered under his breath. Finally, he sighed and lifted his arms up like a toddler wanting his mommy. "Let's go…"

"Thank you for letting me assist you!" Starfire almost squealed with joy. She jerked him up into her strong alien arms and away they went. She opted to fly down over the steps instead of climbing down them, so there was little jostling; a fact for which Bard was extremely grateful. When they reached the bottom floor, a familiar, oddly distant voice rang out:

"I see the redhead snagged Jon." He said a little sadly. "Sorry to see she had to conk him over the head to do it, though. Guess he's still pinin' over his sweetheart."

"You know where she is?" Bard demanded of Tim as he wriggled out of Starfire's arms to stand on his own two feet. Tim was leaning with crossed arms next to the exit, obviously waiting for them.

"You mean you don't know?" Tim sounded surprised.

Bard shook his head quickly.

"What happened to her?"

"She-Arrggggghhhh!"

"Damn it!" Bard cursed in frustration and punched his palm as the green serum pumped into Tim. Once again, his old friend began to grow. He was now seven feet tall, about how big he had been in their fight earlier at the tower, but the green serum continued to flow and Tim continued to grow.

Eight feet.

Nine feet.

Eleven feet.

Twelve feet.

Tim was slowly becoming a real life giant. When it was all over, he was at a towering fifteen feet tall and as wide as a van. But then the white serum began to flow. Rather quickly, Tim resumed to his normal size and collapsed.

"Tim!" Bard said, walking quickly over to him to check on him.

Tim looked up at him with vacant, flashing green eyes and swiped at him like a cat.

"Hey!"

Tim's fingernails dug into Bard's cheek and made a very shallow cut.

"Blood…" Tim uttered in whole fascination, holding himself and rocking back and forth. "….Red….Dripping….Blood is….is….it." He began to laugh.; a chilling laugh that was senseless and mad.

Tim had gone completely and utterly insane.


	25. Steely Relationship

"_I'd take him to the woodshed, then to the outhouse, and then back to the woodshed!" - Bard_

_**CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE**_

_**STEELY RELATIONSHIP**_

The Teen Titans were walking through the dark hallways of Titans Tower towards the main room upon arriving back from rescuing Bard, who was now being carried by Starfire. He hadn't even protested to her proposal of carrying him at all. The cowboy had become reserved and had withdrawn into a kind of unapproachable shell. He hadn't uttered a word to anyone ever since they had witnessed Tim's…episode. Robin had explained, quite detached and clinically, Bard thought, exactly what had happened before the Boy Wonder called someone to bring his old friend to some kind of clinic.

But Bard hadn't been listening. As if it would have mattered any if he had. Bard was a high school dropout and science had _not_ been his best subject. He couldn't tell you the difference between a chromosome and a red blood cell, except perhaps that they were different colors, and he wasn't even sure of that. It was probably for the best, since he didn't really _want _to know exactly what had happened to his old friend, anyway.

He had only been able to meet Tim's eyes once. They were still green, but now they were wild, desperate, and totally devoid of any kind of humanity. Bard's heart wrenched within his chest and he had turned away. And he hadn't said a word since.

Back in the present, his redheaded carrier and the rest of the Titans had reached the main room…and stopped. Starfire gasped and dropped him.

"Argh!" Bard grunted in pain as he hit the floor and felt the sharp jolt of pain in his ribs. He reached over to his fallen hat, put it firmly back on his head and climbed to his feet to see what all the hubbub was about…

There was a Superman wannabe standing right in the middle of the main room. The guy was young, maybe fifteen or sixteen, with short and wavy black hair and blue eyes. He was a little taller than Robin and he wore a black leather jacket over a skin tight blue and red jumpsuit with the Superman emblem on his chest.

"What's up, guys?" He greeted them brightly, throwing a boyish grin at them.

"Who are you?" Bard demanded, breaking his reclusive silence. Something about this guy rubbed him the wrong way.

"You don't know who I am?" The boy asked as if Bard was the stupidest man on the planet. "I'm Superboy!"

"It's nice to finally meet you, Superboy." Robin said respectfully, shaking the teen's hand. Robin brought back his hand and rubbed it gingerly. "Was that really necessary?" He asked.

"No," Superboy admitted, flexing a muscle. "It was fun, though."

Beast Boy and Cyborg snickered, but Bard's eyes narrowed. He was pretty sure that he wasn't going to like this guy.

"This is Cyborg and Beast Boy." Robin introduced them.

"What's up?" Superboy greeted them, with a quick lift of his head.

"This is Starfire and Raven," Robin continued.

Superboy's eyes brightened.

"Nice to meet you, Starfire" he said suavely to her. He reached out, took her hand and kissed it lightly. She looked at him strangely, but then she giggled. Robin's brow creased in consternation, but then he shrugged as if it hadn't bothered him.

"And you must be Raven…" Superboy turned to her and reached out his hand to give her the same treatment as Starfire, but he suddenly found himself looking up into Bard's bruised and hardened face. Silent tension filled the air.

"And, uh, this is Bard." Robin completed his introduction slowly, watching both of them carefully.

"Cool," Superboy said, sizing him up. "You must be the oddball of the group, huh?" He grinned.

Bard lifted an eyebrow, his eyes unblinking.

"Ya know, with the hat and all…"

"What's wrong with my hat?" Bard demanded.

Superboy blinked.

"Nothing, it's just-" he paused. "Hey, cool bling!"

"…Bling?"

Before Bard could react, Superboy had taken off Bard's cowboy's hat, palmed his cross pendant and replaced the cowboy hat back on his head lopsidedly. Irritated, Bard fixed his hat.

"Hey, you just can't-"

"Chill out, man! I just want to get a better look at it!" He began to walk away.

"Now wait just a cotton pickin' minute-" He pointed at him angrily with his left hand.

"Hey, I just want to catch some sun with it. Ya know, see the bling." Superboy held the necklace up to the window, and Bard's arm fell limply, as useless as it was before. The Titans stared at him.

"…I'm guessing that was what you wanted to tell us." Robin said, then he looked over at Superboy. "Give it back to him."

"Jeez, man! Sorry! How was I supposed to know the guy's arm wouldn't work without the cross thing?" Superboy asked when he saw Bard's darkened face. He held the gold cross pendant out to him and Bard snatched it back quickly with his right hand.

He was _really_ not going to like this guy…

"So, Superboy," Robin said. "What brings you to Titans Tower?"

"I wanna be a Titan!" Superboy announced.

"Really?" Beast Boy whistled.

"Yup," Superboy confirmed. "I was in Metropolis, but Blue Boy had that place pretty much covered. I couldn't even rescue a cat from a tree before he got there to save the day and all. So Big Blue talked to the Bat and they decided I ought to come here. Figured I should come to a place where I could do some good."

'_Then why did you come here?' _Bard wanted to say, but he held his tongue.

"Batsy told you I'd be coming, didn't he Rob?" Superboy asked.

'Rob?' Bard mouthed incredulously. The cowboy had poked gentle fun at his leader every now and then, but he was still their leader and he deserved a certain amount of respect…And Superboy had called him 'Rob'! But if Robin noticed or was offended in the slightest, he didn't show any inclination of it on his face at all.

"Batman and I don't talk much." He told him. "The Teen Titans are _my_ responsibility and Batman certainly isn't the kind of man to stick his nose into other people's affairs too often." The Boy Wonder paused thoughtfully. Finally, he reached into his utility belt and handed Superboy a Titan communicator. "Welcome to the Teen Titans. We'll have to see how our chemistry is together, but I'm sure we'll work out fine."

Meanwhile, Bard was staring at the Titan communicator in Superboy's hand in disbelief.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," Bard said, waving his hands in protest. "Wait a second, now! I've been here for two and a half weeks, working my butt off, and I'm still just a Titan Apprentice. The _Boy_ of Steel has been here for two and a half _minutes_ and he's already a full fledged Teen Titan?! Am I missing somethin' here?"

"Your cases are completely different." Robin explained to the cowboy calmly. "When you first arrived here, you were totally new to the superhero business. Superboy, on the other hand, had been doing it for years now. He already knows the ropes."

"Years?" Bard protested, glancing at Superboy. "The guy's gotta be fifteen at the most! He can't have _too_ much experience!"

"Sixteen!" Superboy corrected quickly.

"He's been sixteen for years now." Robin told him. "He's a clone of Superman. They made him when Superman supposedly 'died'. Do you remember that?"

"Yeah," Bard nodded. "But that was…whew, quite a few years ago."

"Nine years of experience," Superboy said proudly. "Compared to your…what? Two and a half weeks?"

Bard's face was red and you could almost see steam billowing out of his ears as he smoldered angrily. Finally, he turned away and grabbed Cyborg by a metal forearm.

"C'mon," he said shortly. "Come help me get patched up."

"Uh….what? Oh! All right, man…"

As the two walked away, Bard heard the conversation continue.

"What's the cowboy's problem?" Superboy was demanding. "Is his hat on too tight or somethin'?"

"You have to understand that Bard's just been through quite an…ordeal today." Robin explained lamely.

"Ordeal?" Bard heard Superboy say just as the door whooshed close behind him and Cyborg. "Looks like someone whooped him pretty good!"

"I already hate him," Bard confided in his friend as the two of them walked down the hallway.

"You're just havin' a bad day." Cyborg shrugged. "He won't seem so bad tomorrow. Plus, he could be a pretty good contribute to the team."

"If he doesn't drive me plum crazy first," Bard predicted.

Once they reached Cyborg's lab, that also doubled as the android's room, he pointed at a stout, white table and began taking thick, white bandage out from a cabinet.

"Sit down and take off your coat and shirt." Cyborg told Bard.

"You sure do move fast," Bard joked kind of weakly. He was still angry.

"Ha ha, real funny, man." Cyborg began to carefully wrap the thick gauze around Bard torso. "You're actually in pretty good shape." He commented absently.

"Fighting along side ya'll does that." Bard shrugged, but then he paused. "Are you comin' on to me?"

"You've been hanging out with Beast Boy too much." Cyborg told him. "So, what's the deal on the chain?" He asked.

"Rumor was true," Bard replied. "The thing really was touched by God. Why do you think my arm works now?"

Cyborg nodded silently.

"So, are you religious at all, Cyborg?" Bard asked after a moment.

"I pray sometimes," Cyborg admitted, continued to wrap up Bard's torso like a mummy.

"Ever think about exactly who you're prayin' to?"

"Not really," Cyborg replied after a thoughtful moment. "I figure there's someone up there, but-" He paused. "Are you tryin' to save me from the wicked, wicked, devil?" He asked, his voice imitating a southern T.V minister.

"It doesn't really work that way." Bard explained. "You just can't thrust your religion onto somebody. Usually, it's best to just let your religion be known and then lead by example."

"You try to be a role model, huh?"

"Yeah, well, _try_ is the key word in that sentence." Bard said. "I'm usually not that good at it."

Cyborg nodded.

"Well, you're all patched up." The half robot proclaimed. "You ought to be all right, just take it easy for a while."

Bard nodded.

**BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!**

Cyborg looked down at his forearm and pushed a button where his communicator was built in.

"Yo?" He asked, looking down at Robin's face.

"_Raven and Beast Boy are taking Superboy down to the garage." _Robin's electronic voice informed him. _"I thought maybe you'd want to show him the T-Car."_

"Sure! I never miss an opportunity to show off my baby!"

Robin grinned for a moment, but then his look became serious.

"_Is Bard there with you?"_

"Yep,"

"_Let me talk to him for a moment."_

Cyborg held his arm out towards Bard.

"What's up?" Bard asked, his voice not very enthusiastic. He had a pretty good idea of 'what was up'.

"_How are you feeling? Did Cyborg fix you up?"_

"Yeah," Bard nodded. "I'm feelin' a little better."

"_Good, good,"_

A pause.

"_We all know about your little altercation with Superboy." _Robin finally said. _"You might not like him, but as the member of the team, I need you to act accordingly. Understand?"_

Robin's voice was filled with so much authority that Bard almost said 'yes, sir'. Instead, he simply nodded with a slight frown.

"_I knew I could count on you. Robin out."_

Bard sighed.

"Now _that_ was a cheery conversation, wasn't it?" He said.

"I'm going down to garage." Cyborg told him. "Wanna come along?"

Bard thought about it for a moment.

"Not really," he admitted. "But I do need to get used to our 'new recruit'. Let's go." He said, his voice resigned.

When the two of them reached the garage, Raven, Beast Boy and Superboy were already there.

"Whoa, hot wheels!" Superboy was saying, checking out the T-Car.

"Yup!" Cyborg said immediately, almost running over with a huge grin on his face. "That's my baby! And it's got everything! Sonic cannon, CD changer, twenty speakers blarin' at ya, nitro boosters. The works!"

Superboy grinned as he continued to admire the T-Car, but then something else caught his eyes.

"Whoa, check this out!" He almost ran over to Bard's motorcycle. "Sweet, a classic Harley! Who's is this?"

"That would be Bard's." Raven droned from the background, eyeing the two teenage boys carefully.

"Nice bike, man." Superboy complimented the cowboy.

"Thank you," Bard said as courteously as possible.

"Mind if I take this baby for a spin?"

Bard frowned. He should have seen this coming…

"Have you ever rode one before?"

"Sure! Plenty of times, my man!"

"I don't know." Bard said doubtfully. "I think maybe-"

"Where are the keys?"

"They're in the ignition, but-"

**VRRRROOOOOOOMMMM!**

"Thanks, Bardster!" The cowboy barely heard as Superboy sped away. He stood there in shock for a moment, but then his face turned red.

"I swear," he exclaimed angrily. "As soon as he get back here I'm gonna smack him right in the face!"

"We'll pick up what's left of you," Raven monotoned.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"………"

"I can whip him!"

"Right,"

"I can!" Bard pressed shrilly. "I'd take him to the woodshed, then to the outhouse, and then back to the woodshed!"

"Ooookay,"

"I'm not kiddin'! I can take him!"

"Yes," Raven droned as she walked away. "I'm sure you could tear him limb from limb."

"Damn straight!"

When she was gone, Bard looked at Beast Boy and Cyborg.

"He'd break me in half, wouldn't he?"

"Yup,"

"I'd bet on it,"

Bard opened his mouth to reply, but then he stomped away, muttering to himself.

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_Dear Journal,_

_Things have become hectic since the last entry I put in here. And all of it for the worse._

_I want to get this off my chest and clearly understood right away. I never wanted to be a superhero. Not even as a kid. My dream has always had a home in Nashville, and if I had my way, that's exactly where I'd be right now; playing my music. But then I discovered I had…powers, and that they were there for a reason._

_Is it just me, or does everything that's happening to me seem terribly ironic? I started out as an orphan, and now I've got a family. I was a gang member, and now I'm a superhero. I'm the son of the devil, but I put my faith in God. Sometimes it's just…so confusing and weird._

_A lot has happened since my last entry. I've been thrown through walls, glass windows against, Titans Tower, and straight into the ground. I've been smacked by fists, kicks, and lasers. I've beseeched God to revive my dead sister, I've become a cripple, fought a super version of my best friend, became an ex-cripple and watched my best friend go insane. Not exactly a Christmas Carol…_

_And to top it all off, the most impulsive and disrespectful man I've ever met joined the Teen Titans today: Superboy. I understand that he was made a Titan instead of a Titan Apprentice because he's already had superhero experience, but it still made me feel a little jilted, I guess. But this guy, Errrrr, I'm probably gonna end up strangling him someday. We're just complete opposites._

_Robin made a big deal out of us getting along however, and I can see where he's coming from. If we're gonna operate as a team, we can't be fighting and bickering with each other, I guess. I'm gonna have to work really hard…_

**KNOCK! KNOCK!**

Bard quickly wrote, 'Sincerely, Bard' at the end of the paper and stuck his journal into his bedside drawer.

"C'mon in!" He called.

It was Cyborg. He stepped into the room and looked around curiously.

"You haven't changed it much." He commented, this being the first time he'd really looked around the room. "The only thing different is that your guitar's over there." He pointed a metal finger at the corner.

Bard eyes widened.

"Speaking of which…" He walked over and picked up the guitar. He brought it back to his bed, sat down, and started strumming it softly. It was his first time playing it since his 'accident'. "Well, I like it like this." He finally answered Cyborg's comment, seeing that the robot had plopped down on the half circle couch in front of the huge window. "And it's not like I have any posters or anything with me to put up."

Cyborg nodded from where he lounged.

"Well, if you did have some posters, what would you put up?"

"Besides Supergirl in a bikini?" Bard joked, grinning. "I don't know. Maybe a picture of my grandfather, I guess."

"Your grandfather?"

Bard nodded.

"He was the lead singer in a country band called the Carolina Drifters." He explained.

"You two were close?" Cyborg asked.

"Not really," Bard replied a little forlornly. "He died when I was young."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Bard said as casually as possible, waving his hand as if to dismiss Cyborg's apology.

"Well," Cyborg said, slapping his knees as he got back to his feet. "The gang's gonna go out for pizza to celebrate having a new member on the team and all. You're comin', right?"

"Yeah, I guess." Bard replaced his guitar in the corner.

"Oh, and by the way," Cyborg added as the two of them walked out of the room. "I checked on your bike when Superboy brought it back. It's in one piece."

"Thank you," Bard told him gratefully.

"Hey, what's a half human, half robot friend for?"

The laughed together as they continued along the hallway.

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"All right, so let's get this straight: Control Freak _is_ still in prison, right?"

"For the millionth time, yes, BB!" Cyborg half-yelled as the group sat down at the circular table on the roof of the pizza place.

"I'm just makin' sure, all right? I don't want a light saber to appear outta nowhere halfway through the meal. Can ya blame me?"

"No," Cyborg grated. "But I can shoot you with my sonic cannon, so sit down and shut up!"

"Jeez, no compassion…." Beast Boy muttered.

"So," Superboy said, looking around speculatively. "You guys eat here often?"

"Affirmative," Starfire answer. "We digest meals of cheese and bread here quite frequently!"

"Heh, right."

"I've been meaning to ask you," Bard was saying to Cyborg. "I got this laser pistol from Kitten, but I can't figure out how to reload it."

"You can't reload a laser pistol, man!" Cyborg laughed. "You gotta recharge it!"

"Oh," he paused. "I knew that."

"Yeah, I bet." Cyborg laughed again. "We can recharge it in the tower. I'll show you how to do it when we get back."

"A laser pistol, huh?" Superboy said from across the table. "Cool. Can I-"

"Yes, you can see it." Bard sighed. He might no like Superboy, but he seemed pretty easy to figure out so far. He pushed back his trench coat, took the gun from the holster at his hip and slid it across the table to the Boy of Steel…who immediately glanced at it and pointed it at Bard.

"Hey!" Bard exclaimed, ducking.

"What's the matter?" Superboy asked. "It don't have any juice, does it?"

"Well, no." Bard admitted. "But you never point a gun at something unless you plan on shootin' it."

"Aw, you worry too much! Look!" Superboy reversed the gun, pointed it at the Superman emblem on his chest and pulled the trigger.

**ZAP!!**

The gun discharged and Superboy went flying backwards out of his seat and hit hard against the ledge of the roof.

Bard would have laughed had he not been so shocked.

"Superboy," he called. But no answer. Everyone ran over to him.

"Superboy, wake up!" Robin tried again, but the Boy of Steel was out cold.


	26. Obstacles

"_Heh, I'll be Nightwing by the time you quit smoking those things." - Robin_

_**CHAPTER TWENTY SIX**_

_**OBSTACLES**_

For the first time he could remember, Bard seemed to be the first one up and about in Titans Tower the next morning. When he walked into the main room, he saw that Superboy was still conked out on the couch. He checked on him briefly to make sure he was okay, and then walked passed him towards the kitchen. Some Fruit Loops seemed to definitely be in his immediate future…

"Ugh…" Superboy moaned. He was finally coming to. Bard came back over.

"Good morning," Bard greeted him, a little smugly he would admit to himself later as he leaned over to look down at him.

"Yeah, good…._morning_?" Superboy said in surprise. He jerked up to a sitting position and effectively knocked heads with Bard.

**CLONK!**

"Aw, shit!"

"Dammit!"

"Ass!"

Superboy looked up from the couch and Bard looked up from his sitting position the floor, both of them rubbing their foreheads.

"We were having a cussing contest, right?" Cyborg grinned, seeming to appear out of nowhere. "So, you all right now?" He asked Superboy, his face a little more serious.

"Nothing can keep Superboy down!" The Boy of Steel replied. "I haven't died from embarrassment yet, so I guess I'll live." He added a little more sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it." Cyborg told him. "And don't get used to that couch. We've never had more than six members before, but we should have a room set up for you by tonight."

Superboy nodded and Cyborg continued along his way to the kitchen, no doubt with the intentions to fry up some bacon.

"Let me ask you something," Bard said to Superboy curiously. "You're a clone of Superman, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So, why didn't the laser just…ya know, bounce off of you?"

"Ya gotta remember that I'm only part Kryptonian, so I don't have all of Supes' powers." Superboy admitted. "Physical attacks, I don't even feel'em. But energy attacks fry me."

Bard nodded.

"So energy attacks, lasers, fireballs, that sort of thing, is kinda like your Kryptonite, huh?" Bard sweat dropped. "Uh, not the best analogy, huh?"

"Heh, does that cowboy boot taste good?"

Bard pointedly ignored that.

"One more question," he said. "We just bumped heads, and it looked like it hurt ya. I thought you were supposed to be impervious to that stuff."

"Only when I think about it," Superboy explained. "My powers aren't automatic, I have to will them to happen."

"Ah," Bard replied. He went to walk away, but then he stopped and turned back. "One last thing-"

"Is this a pop quiz?"

Bard ignored that as well.

"Do you have x-ray vision?"

Superboy blinked, but then he grinned.

"Why?" He asked, looking down suggestively at Bard's jeans. "Hiding a secret?"

Bard ground his teeth together.

"I was worried about the privacy of Starfire and Raven." He grated. "So, do you have x-ray vision or not?"

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't," Superboy smirked. Bard scowled down at him, but still the teen wouldn't give a straight answer. Grumbling and muttering to himself, Bard walked away towards the kitchen. Superboy was making a habit of doing that to him…

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"All right, team!" Robin called the Teen Titans and their single apprentice together from where they stood outside, quite a distance away from Titans Tower. The terrain was dusty and rocky. "I know we've taken a break from training in the last couple of weeks because of Slade's reemergence, but it's time to get back to the grindstone!"

No one could match the Boy Wonder's enthusiasm at that announcement.

"So," Robin continued. "We'll start off with the obstacle course! Superboy and Bard have never gone through it before, so anybody want to volunteer to show'em how it's done?"

"………….."

"C'mon, guys! Anybody?"

"………….."

"Fine, fine. _I'll_ show'em how it's done then." Their leader tried to sound resigned, but he fooled no one. He was rearing to go. He turned to Cyborg and pointed to the control panel. "Work the controls for me, Cyborg. Hardest difficulty."

"Hardest difficultly?" Cyborg echoed as he climbed up to the controls. "We just want to show'em what to do, not intimidate'em!"

Robin thought about that.

"All right," he gave in, his voice gravely disappointed. "Just the normal setting, then."

Cyborg nodded and pressed buttons on the control panel, prepping the obstacle course.

"She's ready when you are!" He called down to Robin, who turned to Superboy and Bard.

"This is the obstacle course." Robin told them obviously. Bard looked around. It seemed like an ordinary landscape to him besides… "The poles mark the boundaries of the obstacle course. You have to stay within them. Now step back and I'll show you how it's done." He grinned like a ten year old boy finding out he was receiving a BB gun for Christmas.

"Go!" Cyborg shouted.

Robin ran forward with all he was worth. His black and yellow cape flapping behind him, he reached around to the small of his back and pulled out his metal staff.

**PFFT!**

Robin retracted it with a push of his thumb and began to twirl it with incredible speed over his head, ready for anything.

His first 'obstacle' were floating metal spheres that were perhaps three times the size of a basketball that hovered towards him.

"That doesn't seem so bad," Bard commented, mostly to himself.

**PFFT!**

At first, Bard thought that Robin had detracted his staff. But then he saw that each of the half dozen or so metal spheres were suddenly armed with three small laser guns apiece.

"Okay," Bard sweat dropped. "I reckon I might have spoken too soon…"

**ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!**

Bard was absolutely dazzled by Robin's display of acrobatics as the ground around the Boy Wonder became alive with laser fire.

Front flip.

**ZAP!**

Back flip.

**ZAP!**

Side flip.

**ZAP!**

A no handed cartwheel.

**ZAP!**

A tuck and roll.

**ZAP!**

Robin came out of the roll, jumped impossibly high into the air and landed with a crouch on one of his robotic pursuers. Two of the other spherical robots immediately locked in on him and came at the caped teen at full speed. But, of course, that's exactly what the Boy Wonder wanted. He flipped off his temporary ride just in the nick of time before-

**CRASH!**

-all three robots collided and exploded into each other. Still in midair, Robin came out of his front flip with three exploding birdarangs between his gloved fingertips.

**SW-SW-SW-SW-CHINK-CHINK-CHINK**

**BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!**

Robin landed in a crouch with his head down. As he looked up as the dark smoke swirled around his form dramatically, Bard saw that he was grinning. The crazy son of a gun was grinnin' like a possum! Bard perceived right then and there that the Boy Wonder loved this; this is what he lived for. But he wasn't sure if it was the justice Robin was in this business for. It was the thrill, the excitement, the continual testing of himself. The cowboy wasn't sure if that was a good thought or not…

But who was Bard to judge if Robin's intentions weren't entirely for the concept of justice? Bard had admitted to himself, and had written down in his journal to boot, that if he had his own way he would be on a stage in Nashville somewhere, picking his guitar and singing his lungs out. The only reason he was a superhero was because he felt that was what God wanted him to do.

Bard realized something then. Not any of them, not Cyborg, not Beast Boy, not Raven, and not even Starfire was in this business for justice. It's easy for a superhero to say that they fight for the citizens of the city, but that was never exactly true. People were more complicated than that. Not many people can devote their entire lives to a single indefinable concept, and certainly not teenagers like themselves. Every single one of them fought for a deeper, more personal reason. Bard fought for faith, Robin fought for the competition and excitement, Starfire fought for love and he was sure that the others had their own reasons…

"Bard, what do you think?"

Bard jerked his back head up. He had been so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't even notice that Robin had finished the obstacle course and was now looking up at him, waiting for an answer.

"You did great." Bard told him. "You put on quite a show."

"Uh…thanks." Robin replied a little hesitantly. "But that's not what I asked."

"….Oh," Bard sweat dropped. "Uh, want to repeat it for me?"

"I said, 'do you think you're ready for the obstacle course'?"

"Oh!" Bard answered. "Actually, I reckon I ought to sit this one out today. My ribs are still pretty bad off." He unconsciously brought a hand to his side.

Robin nodded.

"All right," he agreed. "Why don't you go back to the Tower and rest up? You can do the obstacle course later."

"Thanks," Bard said gratefully. His ribs were beginning to hurt from just standing there so long. He knew it would be a while before he was one hundred percent again.

"I'll go with him," Raven offered.

Robin nodded again.

"Good idea," he told her, then he turned back to the others. "So, ready to give it a go, Superboy?"

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"Did you do it on purpose?" Raven's question came out of nowhere as she and Bard entered the main room of the tower.

"Did I do what on purpose?" Bard paused as what she was referring to hit him. "Of course not! Anyway, how was I supposed to know that Superboy would shoot at himself?"

Raven nodded slowly as if that answer satisfied her curiosity.

"Why would you even ask me something like that anyway?" Bard continued. "I figured you'd know me well enough now to know-"

"Don't kid yourself." Raven interrupted as she sat down on her futon, crossed her legs and picked up a book. "Just because we come from the same father doesn't mean I know you any better than the rest of the Titans."

"…….." For some reason, Bard felt hurt by that. Raven must have noticed, because she looked up at him and:

"Tell me everything you know about me, Bard."

The cowboy was not ready for that.

"Well…."

"You know my name, who my father is, the fact that I am a superhero and the restraint I must put on my emotions. Did I leave out anything?"

"I….I guess not." Bard admitted reluctantly. "But I want to know more."

"Don't you get it? You can't. No one can." Raven flicked her eyes back down to her book, but then she raised her gaze to her half brother again. "Besides, you don't even know yourself." She added.

"….What?"

"It's true, you're not really Bard and you're not really Jonny. You know that."

Bard blinked.

"How in the world do you-"

"I perceive things."

"…Just like a woman!" Bard shook his head angrily. "You're turning this around on me when it should be about you! I thought I was an orphan all my life, and now that I've finally found someone in my family, my _only_ family as far as I'm concerned, you're saying that I can't even get to know her."

"That was not my choice to make. I can't. Period."

"Then the problem's Trigon then, right?" Bard asked, rolling his shoulders as he thought. "All right, we'll just meditate, I'll jump into your head and we'll take him to the woodshed."

"It's not that easy. Trigon can't be defeated, only restrained."

A pause.

"You know…" Bard said hesitantly. "God could beat him."

"I don't want to hear this…"

"The truth is the truth," Bard shrugged. "Doesn't really matter if we like it or not, right?"

"If he could beat Trigon with such ease, than why hasn't he done it?"

Bard's blue eyes were serious as they stared meaningfully at Raven.

"Because you haven't asked him to," he answered softly.

Bard saw something glint in his half sister's eyes, but whatever it was escaped him as they hardened again. She shook her head and stood up.

"This conversation is pointless. I refuse to join you in your fantasy world. I told you the way things are. I've dealt with it, now it's your turn." With that, she picked up her book and walked out before Bard could say anything.

The cowboy sighed when she was gone. How had they ended up fighting, anyway? One moment, everything was fine between them, and the next she was stomping away. Bard crossed his arms and looked up absently. He knew at least one person he'd be praying for tonight.

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Later that afternoon, Robin came by Bard's room.

"Feel up to taking a little ride?" He asked him.

"A ride where?"

"Down to where Slade held you." Robin answered. "I want to search for clues, and I figured you could be of some help since I'm sure Slade talked with you for a while."

Bard nodded.

"Yeah, he said that-"

"C'mon," Robin interrupted him politely with a wave of his gloved hand. "You can tell me in the car."

When they reached the garage, Robin sat down in the driver's seat of the T-Car. Bard didn't object in the slightest. His ribs were still sore, so nothing suited him better than just relaxing in the front seat.

"So," Robin said after they were both buckled in and cruising along. "Did Slade tell you his plan?"

"Some of it at least," Bard replied. "For some reason he want to meet my…he wants to meet Satan."

The T-Car swerved to the side dangerously as Robin jerked his head to look at Bard with a widened eye mask.

"What?!" He said in disbelief.

"Robin, car!!" Bard pointed forward quickly and Robin snapped his eyes back to the road.

"Ahhhh!" Robin jerked the car to the side of the road on the shoulder and put it in park. After both teens' adrenaline had ebbed a bit:

"I can't believe Slade would want to meet the devil." Robin muttered, then he turned to Bard. "So he's actually real?"

"Of course he is, he's me and Raven's father." Bard refused to use the word 'dad'. To Bard, the term 'father' and 'dad' meant two totally different things.

"He's your _father?!_"

Bard blinked.

"I thought you knew that…"

Robin shook his head.

"I knew that Raven's father was a demon, but-"

"Not just _a_ demon." Bard said gravely. "_The_ demon."

"No wonder Raven is the way she is…" Robin mused. "Why is it that you don't have to restrain your emotions like she does?"

"My faith in God blocks Trigon from getting to me." Bard explained.

"He's real then?" Robin asked. "God, I mean?"

Bard shrugged.

"I've always thought so. Besides, how do you think Raven got revived?"

"Well…" Robin stopped himself. "We can have a theological discussion later. Right now, let's focus on Slade. Besides the fact that Trigon is your father, why else would Slade want you?"

"This pendant he stole," Bard held it up from his chest. "He wanted me to confirm that it was touched by God. He's been talking to Trigon through some kind of symbol, but he thinks he needs this pendant to protect him when he meet Big Red face to face."

"_Is_ it holy?"

"My arm's working, ain't it?" Bard waved his left hand at him and paused. "Say….mind if I have a cigarette?"

"Bard, you know my rule on-"

"Pleeease?"

Robin snorted slightly in frustration.

"Cyborg's not gonna like you smoking in his car."

"Cyborg told me it was all right, just as long as I don't burn the seats or anything."

"He must really like you, then….fine," Robin gave in. "Just don't let anyone see you!"

"Ten-four!" Bard said happily. He cracked the window and begin to puff away contently on his Marlboro. "Awwww" He sighed in satisfaction.

Robin looked slightly disgusted.

"Don't you know what that's doing to your lungs?"

"I know, I know. Didn't I tell you that I'm in the process of quittin'?"

"Heh, I'll be Nightwing by the time you quit smoking those things." Robin laughed a bit.

"Uh, Nightwing?"

"Starfire got thrown into the future some time ago. Years from now, I'm gonna be a superhero named Nightwing."

"She see anybody else?"

"She saw all the Titans." Robin answered.

"Even me?"

Robin blinked at that.

"She never mentioned you." He said. "She called all the Titans together, but you never answered the call or weren't a Titan anymore…"

'_Or I was dead,'_ Bard thought, but he didn't voice it. Instead:

"I wonder where I was…" He flicked ashes, took another drag and looked out the window. They were on a busy, traffic heavy street. There were office building all around, but the only significant building was the Jump City Bank. Bard's eyes caught a car down the street. A young white guy with shades was sitting in a park car, smoking a cigarette. Just outside his door, perhaps a dozen more cigarette butts littered the ground. He had been there for a while…

"Trouble," Robin announced, beating him to the punch. The Boy Wonder had obviously noticed the suspicious man as well. "He's been there for a while, and the only building of any real significance here is the bank."

"You're as good as they say." Bard whistled, but Robin shrugged off the compliment. "That lookout can't be very good if he doesn't notice the _T-Car _parked twenty yards away."

"You sound like you've done it before."

"….Well-"

"I think you should go in first." Robin decided. "I'll cause an uproar right away in my costume. You're relatively new to the town and you have on street clothes."

Bard nodded and got out of the car. He had originally planned to go straight into the bank, but then he figured he should deal with the lookout first. He walked up to the open car window and looked down at the man in the shades.

"Excuse me," he said. "But can you tell me how to get to the nearest pizza place? I'm new in town and I'm about to starve."

"Sure thing, my man." The man said pleasantly. This guy sure was a calm lookout… "Three block down that way is Mike's Pizz-O-Rama. Might even meet the Teen Titans, they like to go there."

"Thanks, a lot partner." Bard replied. "By the way, what are doing out here?"

"Just waitin' on my girl." The guy answered. "She works in the bank."

"Oh, yeah? What does she look like?"

"Pretty girl with curly blonde hair and blue eyes. She's a knockout."

This guy sure had his story down…

"Well, thanks a lot man I-" Bard paused and acted at is he were looking beyond the man. "Say, is that her now?"

When the man turned to look, Bard carefully measured his vulnerable face and smashed his fist into it. The guy slumped over in the seat, unconscious.

Bard loosened his laser pistol in the holster underneath his trench coat and walked carefully into the bank, ready for action….Only, there was no action. Everything was operating normally. No gunman in Richard Nixon masks, no one barking threats or threatening hostages. Just another average day in the bank.

And behind the counter was an attractive girl with curly blond hair.

Bard sweat dropped. He sprinted out and almost dove into the T-Car.

"It's time to go, Robin."

"You didn't beat the crooks that fast, did you?"

"No, but we need to leave now."

"But the robbery-"

"There was no robbery, and I just assaulted that guy in the car. So, can we go now?"

Robin stared hard at Bard for a moment, but then he begin to laugh. Rather sheepishly at first, Bard joined him.

The Boy Wonder and the cowboy continued to laugh, even as they pulled away.


	27. Cassette Games, Talks And Punches

"_I'm glad we had a chance to have this talk." - Bard_

_**CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN**_

_**CASSETTE GAMES, TALKS AND PUNCHES**_

Starfire cautiously stepped towards Raven on quiet feet.

"I do not wish to disturb you during your meditation." She half apologized. "However, I did wish to inquire to the whereabouts of Robin."

"He left with Bard not too long ago to investigate Slade's previous base of operations." Raven replied without turning around. She floated cross-legged before a huge window that faced the ocean.

"Bard…I quite enjoy his music. He is indeed an interesting friend."

"……."

"Do you not think him interesting, friend Raven?"

"Yes, he's interesting." Raven replied shortly, but Starfire was oblivious to her tone.

"And his faith is absolutely enthralling! It gives him a strength that is almost visible, quite similar to the green fire that pulses through a Tammaranian warrior's veins."

"I don't want to hear this…" Raven muttered.

"Why not, Raven?" Starfire asked. "Me and Bard talked quite extensively about his beliefs. I believe Bard's faith is something we can all learn from and-"

"I _don't_ want to hear about it!" Raven snarled dangerously. "Don't you have flowers to water or food to cook or something?"

"I-… I have no unfinished chores before me, but I will leave if that is what you wish."

"It is,"

"Very well, then." Starfire uttered weakly. "I-I will speak with you at a later time…"

The red headed Tammaranian left as silently as she had entered.

"Uh, sorry about that, Robin." Bard apologized sheepishly from where they were back on the road again. He was scratching at his long hair nervously.

"No problem, Bard." Robin assured him. "It was just a rookie mistake. We've all made them." The Boy Wonder paused. "Do you think he recognized you?"

"I don't think so," Bard shook his head. "And I'm not wearing my cowboy hat today, so I wasn't _too_ obvious."

Robin glanced over at him.

"Why aren't you wearing your hat?"

"I don't have a black hat anymore, thanks to Jinx. Remind me to get even with her, by the way. And my white hat doesn't really match today." He looked down pointedly at his black trench coat, black sleeveless shirt and jeans.

"All right," Robin chuckled. "So you're not only a religious cowboy, but you're a _fashionable_ religious cowboy."

"Don't forget handsome!"

"Heh, that's not for me to judge."

"….Point taken,"

"All right, back to Slade." Robin announced, getting back down to business. "So, he's been talking to Trigon through some kind of mystical symbol and he wants to meet him for a purpose that is of yet unknown. And to ensure his own protection, he needs your cross pendant, correct?"

"I think that covers everything," Bard agreed.

"So the question is, why would Slade want to meet the devil?"

"Maybe he wants to form some kind of alliance?" Bard guessed with a shrug.

"It's possible," Robin admitted. "But what kind of plan could there be for both of them to agree on it?" He glanced at Bard. "What does Trigon want?"

"Worship, love, everything that Christians give God." Bard paused. "Have you ever read any of the Bible?"

"I've glanced through it,"

"Ever read the Book of Revelations?"

Robin shook his head.

"I am simplifying this _a lot_, but the Book of Revelations pretty much foretells the end of the world; Armageddon." Bard explained. "Now, what happens is basically this: God brings up all the Christians into the Kingdom of Heaven, and then all kinds of plagues hit earth. Meteors, tidal waves, rivers and oceans turning to blood, pretty much all the horrible stuff we've imagined but don't ever speak of."

"Anyway," Bard continued. "Now you have the sudden disappearance of millions of people and all these disaster had hit earth. And, of course, that's when Satan shows himself. He appears on earth and proclaims that he's God and starts healing people and such. I'm sure he'll get a lot of worshipers that way."

"Interesting," Robin commented. "But how does that help us now?"

"I think Trigon wants to start gathering worshipers early." Bard replied. "His ultimate goal is to defeat God and sit on his throne."

"But what does Slade get out of it?" Robin wanted to know.

"Dunno," Bard shrugged. "Maybe it's just a way to defeat the Teen Titans, or maybe he wants a position in the hierarchy of Hell. You know him a lot better than I do."

They pulled up to a stoplight and Robin turned in his seat to look at the cowboy.

"Do I?" He asked seriously. "Ever since that video Slade sent you, it's no secret that you two have a past. How well did you know him?"

"Not much at all," Bard defended himself quickly. "We just talked a few times via phone screen."

"What for?"

Bard sighed.

"Do we really….have to get into this now?"

"No," Robin shook his head as the light turned green and they started forward again. "Your past is none of my business. What you choose to tell me, I'll listen to. What you want to keep private, I won't pry out of you."

Bard blinked. Not many people would say that to someone, especially someone who you have to trust with your life on a daily basis.

"Thank you," Bard told him gratefully.

The rest of the trip was completed in silence.

"We're here," Robin finally announced.

"For the hundredth, millionth, _zillionth_ time, Superboy! You do _not_ hold the record for the fastest time on the obstacle course!" Beast Boy explained slowly, waving his skinny green arms for emphasis.

"Sure I do!" Superboy protested, adjusting his black leather jacket coolly. "I finished it in like, half a second!"

"But Robin said you couldn't use super speed." Cyborg jumped in. "You cheated, dawg."

"Pssh, Robin's just mad 'cause he couldn't program those robots of his to handle da Boy of Steel!"

Silence…

"Uh, SB?" Beast Boy squeaked. "Cy programmed those robots, not Robin…"

Superboy blinked and turned to Cyborg, who looked a little angry.

"Uh, well…." A beat. "There was like this one laser that came like _this close_ to frying me, man! I was almost down for the count!"

Cyborg's face immediately perked up.

"Really?" He asked. "'Cause I made the cyber optics on those suckers about ten centimeters wider than standard and equipped them with infrared vision, night vision and-"

"That cool and all," Superboy interrupted. "But I gotta ask man, where are all the chicks in this town? You've _got_ to have a couple of hotties in this city, right?"

"Oh, yeah!" Beast Boy said, half drooling. "Sometimes when I go down to the mall there are so many blondes that-"

"Let's go, then!" Superboy suggested.

"We gotta stay here at the Tower, man." Cyborg was the voice of reason. "'Specially with Robin and Bard gone."

"Robin and Bard?" Superboy asked. "Say, they aren't…."

"Aren't what?"

"Ya know," Superboy waved his hand back and forth suggestively.

Beast Boy's and Cyborg's eyes widened in realization, and then they collapsed on the floor laughing.

"No way, dawg!" Cyborg said between chuckles. "Robin's with Starfire."

"Oh," Superboy looked slightly disappointed. "Say, what about-"

"Don't even think about it, man!" Beast Boy beat him to the punch. "Raven doesn't _do_ relationships. Besides, Bard…"

"I'm not scared of Bard!" Superboy blustered. "He hasn't done anything except be jealous of me ever since I got here. Not to mention he sabotaged that laser gun."

"Oh, yeah," Cyborg said sarcastically. "He said it was out of juice because he _knew_ that you'd ask for it and he _knew_ you'd point it at yourself and pull the trigger."

"It's possible!"

"No way, man!" Beast Boy said. "No way Bard would ever do something like that. It was an accident!"

"You're against me, too?" Superboy accused him. "Fine! I'm going out…"

"But-"

"Take it up with my agent!" And Superboy was gone.

"…………….."

"……………."

"Do you have an agent?" Cyborg asked Beast Boy.

"Nope, do you?"

"Uh-uh,"

"…………"

"………."

"Wanna play some game?"

"Sure!"

"What's up, babe?" Superboy said as he walked up beside Raven's meditating form and passed a hand through his hair. "I was going down to mall and I wouldn't be much of gentleman if I didn't ask you to go…"

"_Never_ call me 'babe'," Raven retorted flatly.

Superboy blinked.

"Right, right," he said quickly. "My fault, girl."

"……."

"So, want to come with me to the mall?"

Raven opened one of her eyes to look at him.

"….Sure."

"Fine! Your loss, sweet cheeks! There are millions of girls that would die to-" Superboy stopped. "You will?"

"I need a new book….And don't call me 'sweet cheeks'."

"Anything you say bab-, uh, Raven." He carefully put a pair of mirrored red sunglasses on his nose and offered his arm to her.

After a hesitant moment, she accepted it and Superboy lead her out of the room.

"Nothing!" Robin burst out in disgust. "We search this place top to bottom, all twenty eight floors, and find absolutely nothing! There's no way a criminal can operate out of a place this big and not leave _something_! Not even Slade is _that_ good!"

Bard rubbed at his chin thoughtfully, noticing absently that he probably needed a shave.

"Maybe this wasn't his base of operations." He mused. "Maybe it was just a safe house. Or a really big interrogation room."

"You're right," Robin agreed with him. "There's no way he'd bring a Titan to his real headquarters…"

"You mean 'Titan Apprentice'." Bard corrected blandly.

"Maybe," Robin conceded. "But I have no doubt that you'll be a Titan. There's something about you; I can see it. You're gonna do great things."

"….Hmm, thanks man."

Just as the two of them were walking out of the place, Bard stopped. He stared at the spot where he had last seen his friend, Tim. He had been leaning right there with his arms crossed, joking kind of bitterly. He knew that he had done wrong… But then the next minute, he was on the floor, completely insane…

"You coming?" Robin called to him.

"Uh, yeah…" Bard followed him out. "Say…think we can make a quick pit stop before going back to the tower?"

"What did you have in mind?"

**CL-CL-CL-CL-CL-CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!**

When Starfire walked into the main room of Titans Tower, Beast Boy and Cyborg were camped on the couch before the huge television screen, furiously mashing buttons on their respective controllers.

"Quick, BB!" Cyborg was saying. "Get back to back with me!"

"All right, I'm set." Beast Boy had long face. "You _do_ know that we're gonna die, right?"

"We can make it out of this."

"Dude, we're surrounded by like five hundred Chinese guys with swords and all we've got to kill'em with is your mace and my spear!"

"Beast Boy, we're probably two of the greatest gamers on earth." Cyborg replied seriously. "We're on the last level of this thing. If anyone can get through this, it's us. We have to bring our A game."

Suddenly, the two friends eyes' became extremely determined.

"Let's do it!" Beast Boy shouted.

The two samurai warriors on the screen jumped forward with digitalized war cries into the massive army all around them and began to slash and hack.

"I know your cassette games are most important to you." Starfire said from behind them. "But could you tell me whether or not Bard and Robin had returned as of yet?"

"Not yet, Star." Cyborg said quickly, his eyes still glued to the screen.

"I am worried about them." Starfire fretted. "What if something has happened to them? They have been away for quite some time now…"

"Don't worry about them, Star." Beast Boy reassured her. "Bard-whoa!-has only been here for about three weeks and can already kick ass-ow!-, and Robin….is Robin. They can take care of themselves."

Starfire's lips pursed together in thought.

"What does Bard's proficiency in striking donkeys with his feet have to do-"

"I meant he's a good, uh, warrior!" Beast Boy corrected himself.

"Ah, that I understand." She approved. "…Tell me, do you mind if I watch your pixeled alter egos mutilate ancient slanted eyed fighters?"

"Not at all! Come sit down." Cyborg went to pat the couch beside him, but he quickly snatched his hand back to his controller when an attacker aimed a sword at his back. "If you want," he suggested to Starfire. "You can watch and tell us if any enemies are sneaking up on us."

"Oh, goodie!" Starfire gushed joyously. "Never before have I been ever to help in your hobby of playing cassette games! I will surely try my best to assist you!" She began to watch the screen intently.

"Cyborg! An attacker is- Never mind, you smashed his skull in with you mace."

"Beast Boy, watch out! Oh…you impaled him on your spear." Starfire blinked. "Wow, this game is most violent."

"Be careful of!- Never mind, you-………."

Bard's heart began to pound faster and faster as he and Robin came closer and closer to the Jump City Psychiatric Clinic. He was going to visit Tim, and he was increasingly anxious about it. The cowboy knew that he wasn't really going to see his old friend; he was going to see the shell of what his friend once was…and that thought made his heart wrench within him.

Finally, Robin pulled the T-Car up in front of the large, whitewashed clinic.

"We're here," he announced neutrally. "You ready to go in?"

Bard's eyes were thoughtful for a moment.

"Would you…mind staying in the car?" He asked. "I'd kinda like to do this alone."

"Of course," Robin agreed immediately. "I'll be here when you get back."

Bard nodded.

"Thank you," he took a deep breath, opened the door and stepped out of the car.

He absently pushed a few loose strands of hair out of his face as he mounted the white steps and went inside.

"Excuse me, ma'am." He said to the receptionist behind the front desk. "I'm here to see a patient, Tim McClay."

"Ah, him." She said kind of darkly, but before Bard could address that comment she had already continued. "Your name, please?"

"Uh, Bard."

"Bard what?"

"Just 'Bard', ma'am." He answered. "I'm a Teen Titan." Once again, he found it unnecessary to explain the difference between a Teen Titan and an Titan Apprentice.

The receptionist really looked at him for the first time. Her blonde hair was in a severe bun and she wore thick glasses.

"Oh, yes, I've seen you on the news." She tilted her head slightly. "You're taller than I would have thought."

There wasn't much Bard could say to that.

"Anyway, I'll page Dr. Crammer. He's the leading doctor in Mr. McClay's case."

"Thank you," he turned around and leaned against the desk and fidgeted while the receptionist called down the doctor.

Dr. Crammer was a short, wiry man with delicate eyeglasses and stringy black hair.

"Hello," he greeted Bard in a strident voice. "My name is Dr. Crammer. I'm Mr. McClay's doctor."

The two shook hands.

"I'm Bard, nice to meet you." They both started down the hallway.

"So," Bard said hesitantly. "How is Tim doing?"

"I'll tell you honestly, Mr. Bard." The doctor said. "Mr. McClay's case is the worse I've even seen in my eleven years of practice."

Bard blinked. That was _not_ what he wanted to hear.

"But still," he fought for any positive news. "There's still a chance that he might recover, right?"

"The human brain is the most complex thing on earth, Mr. Bard. You must understand that." Dr. Crammer explained gently. "Anything is possible. But the chances of Mr. McClay's recovery are…incredibly slim."

Bard sighed.

"How….how has he been doing?"

"He's not doing very well at all." Dr. Crammer admitted reluctantly. "He is incredibly hostile and we are forced to drug him to even come close enough to feed him. We can't start a rehabilitative program because we can't get close enough to talk to him coherently. He just sits on the floor all day, rocks back and forth and talks about blood."

"Is that all he talks about?" Bard asked. His heart had been sinking lower and lower into his stomach as the doctor talked. "I mean, does he ever say names or anything?"

"Sometimes," Dr. Crammer replied. "But he's just talking about the people the blood come from."

"Like what? Does he say 'Jonny's blood', or something?"

Dr. Crammer peered over his spectacles up at the cowboy.

"How did you know he says 'Jonny'?"

Bard's heart sank a little lower.

"Just a lucky guess, I reckon…" He paused. "Has he ever said the name 'Amber'?"

"No," the doctor answered. "At least not to my knowledge. Now, if you'll come this way I'll show you to your friend."

Bard froze dead in his tracks as he stared at the white door that would lead him in to see Tim.

"………………………."

"Well, Mr. Bard, are you coming?"

"I……..I have to go." Bard said a little desperately. "I thank you for the information but….I can't be here."

He turned on his heel quickly and walked away. He couldn't see his friend like this. He couldn't hear his insane ramblings about blood. He couldn't look into the his inhumane green eyes. He couldn't relive the memories.

Jonny, or Bard, or whatever he called himself now….He was a damn coward. And he also needed a cigarette.

"Robin!" Starfire said enthusiastically. She rushed over to him and picked him up in a bone cracking hug. "I am elated to see you home safely!"

"I was only gone (cough) for a couple of (wheeze) hours!" Finally, the Boy Wonder couldn't take it anymore. "Star! Air!"

"Oh!" She put him down quickly. "I am so sorry! Quite frequently do I forget my own strength."

Robin smiled kindly at her and then looked around.

"Where's Superboy?" He asked.

"Uh…he's at the mall." Beast Boy answered.

Robin nodded.

"How about Raven?"

"Ummm, she's at the mall, too."

"Hmph, that's quite a coincidence." Bard said distantly.

"Yeah, well," Beast Boy was sweating bullets. "They're, ahhhh, kinda down there….at the mall………….together." He squeaked

"That's nice, I think I'm gonna-" Bard stopped as what Beast Boy had told him suddenly seeped through. "What did you say?" He asked in a dreadfully quiet voice.

."Superboy and Raven, man." Cyborg stepped in for his friend. "They went to the mall toget-"

"I heard what he said!!" Bard yelled and ripped his laser pistol from his holster furiously. I'm gonna kill'em! I am gonna _kill him!!_"

Before anyone could say anything, the cowboy had stomped out of the room with wild eyes.

"Uh…shouldn't we, ya know, go stop him and stuff?" Beast Boy asked.

"Stay here," Robin ordered. "I'll handle this." He took off down hall after Bard.

"Bard!" The Boy Wonder called after the cowboy. "Bard, stop!"

Bard obliviously continued along the dark hallway. Robin, doing the first thing that popped into his head, popped open a compartment in his utility belt and slung a bolo at him. The string hit dead on with Bard's shoulder blades and the weighted balls quickly tied his arms to his side. Bard lost his balance and fell into a sitting position against the wall.

"Now that I've got you're attention," Robin said after he had loped over to him. "Care to talk about this first? You know, if you go and attack Superboy, that will be an assault against a peace officer. Not only would it ban you from the Teen Titans, but you could possibly see some jail time."

"……."

"All right, fine." Robin decided. "I'll talk and you're listen. Raven's can certainly take care of herself. She doesn't need you protecting her against everything. Besides, it's probably not even what you think. I don't believe Raven can even have a serious relationship because of….her father."

"Pssh! It's not her I don't trust. It's him!"

"I know of Superboy's reputation." Robin admitted. "But he's still a hero. He knows how to conduct himself accordingly. But I was serious about what I said earlier. I see great things in your future as a superhero, Bard, so don't throw it all away now."

"You-you're right." Bard finally said, taking a deep breath. "I guess I just kinda lost my head. Care to untie me now?"

Robin gave him a scrutinizing look. He seemed to have gotten over his anger. Robin knelt down and unwrapped the bolo from around Bard's torso.

"You know," he said as he was untying him. "If you're that upset about this, maybe you should go talk to Superboy."

Bard suddenly grinned.

"You're right," he said, still grinning.

Robin watched the cowboy as he walked away. He wasn't sure if he liked that grin or not…

Superboy and Raven arrived back at the tower not too long after, and Superboy went immediately to his new room. He pushed a button on the control panel next to his door and the door slid open.

**WHAM!**

As quick as lightning, Bard's fist came from inside the room and caught Superboy high on the forehead. Normally, those kinds of attacks wouldn't have phased Superboy, but he hadn't been ready. The Boy of Steel stumbled back into the hallway and leaned against the wall.

"If you ever try anything inappropriate with Raven, I'll kill you." Bard threatened him quietly. Then, he suddenly grinned. "I'm glad we had a chance to have this talk."

Then the cowboy walked away down the hallway, whistling a little tune to himself.


	28. Beatles, Monkey and Lasers, Oh My!

"_The Titans do things as a team. If you wanted to be a solo hero, you could have stayed in Metropolis." - Bard_

_**CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT**_

_**BEATLES, MONKEYS AND LASERS, OH MY!**_

Bard woke up with a small headache. At first, he thought that it was because he felt a little guilty about hitting Superboy, but he knew that wasn't it. Sure, he knew it wasn't morally right for him to do it, but he'd be damned if it didn't feel good. But his back and neck were stiff, too…

Bard lifted his head off his chest and yawned. That fact slowly seeped into his sleep heavy brain. Suddenly he jerked his head up and popped open his eyes, fully awake. His arms were pinned to his sides from where he was strapped to a brown, wooden chair. Bard rolled his head to either side and saw that the rest of the Titans were bound similarly with the exception of Raven and Superboy, who was bound in place by some kind of yellow energy beams.

"I am sooooo going to hurt someone." Raven droned.

"Ah, man!" Beast Boy groaned. "I _hate_ this place!"

"Cyborg," Robin grated. "Did you put in the new ventilation system that was supposed to guard against things like _knockout gas, _like I told you _last time_?"

"W-well, I was going to," Cyborg stuttered. "But you see, what had happened was-"

"Does the whole stinkin' world know that I'm weak against energy or somethin'?" Superboy muttered, struggling futilely against his energy beam bonds

"But how can we be in Mad Mod's learning facility?" Starfire asked. "Did we not place him in jail?"

"Sorry, duckies, but you can't keep a cool cat down!"

Mad Mod hadn't changed much. He had the same bright orange hair, pointy nose and incredibly thin sunglasses. He wore white disco pants and a high-collared white jacket over a British flag shirt and his feet wore covered by multicolored platform shoes.

Bard groaned loudly.

"The legendary Teen Titans get captured by a….Ringo Star wannabe?" He said in disgust.

"We know all of this is fake, Mod!" Robin growled.

"We do?" Bard and Superboy asked at almost the same time.

"The same trick doesn't work twice!" Robin continued. "All of this is just an illusion. Even you!"

"Bratty teenagers," Mad Mod sighed. "They always think they know everything. Tell me, Robby, if I were an illusion, could I do this?"

**WHAP!**

Mad Mod slapped the Boy Wonder sharply across the face with his palm.

"Robin!" Starfire called out in concern.

"I'm fine," he spat and then looked back up at Mad Mod. "What do you want, Mod?"

"Exactly what I wanted last time, my boy! To teach you lot to behave!" He absently twirled his cane with one hand and scratched his butt with the other. "I'll admit, I had spunk when I was younger, too. I used to bob my head with the Beatles and get shagadelic with the Monkeys."

"Dude, I _so_ don't want to hear about your personal life." Beast Boy told him. "And don't get any ideas! Just because the word 'beast' is in my name doesn't mean-"

"You see, that's exactly what I mean, duckies!" Mad Mod cut him off. "You don't have no respect for your elders. I'm bigger, better and badder than you are, so give me some frickin' respect!"

**RRRRIIIINNNNNGGGGG!**

"Ah, listen to that, chummies!" Mad Mod cackled. "Looks like its time for your first classes!"

Everyone groaned.

"Why is everyone trying constantly to put us in school?" Bard moaned.

"They're jealous," Beast Boy answered.

The psychedelic bad guy whipped out a piece of paper.

"Now, let's see," he said as he looked over it. "Robin and Cyborg, you're in Home Economics!"

"Home Ec.?" Cyborg echoed.

Robin's eye slits narrowed.

"I am _not_ wearing an apron." He declared.

Before either of them could say anything more, the tiled floor beneath their chairs slid away and the two heroes plummeted downward.

"Hmmm," Mad Mod scratched his chin, (with the same hand he had scratched his butt with earlier), and looked back down at the paper. "Starfire, you're in Sex Ed."

Bard's eyes widened in horror.

"You can't!" He objected shrilly. "She-" But it was too late. Mad Mod had already pressed the button on his cane and sent Starfire to her class.

"No talking out of turn, my boy." He looked back down at the sheet of paper. "Beast Boy! My perfect student!"

"Yeah, yeah," Beast Boy muttered. "Don't rub it in you Saturday Night Fever knockoff…"

"Since you were so good last time, I'm gonna let you pick your first class!" Mad Mod told him generously.

"Oh yeah? How 'bout, ummmmmmm, lunch!"

"All right," Mad Mod grinned. "Lunch duty it is!"

"Wait!" Beast Boy objected. "That's not what I meeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaa-"

"Nice boy, that one." Mod said, looking at where the changeling had once sat. "A little weird though."

"No kidding," Raven droned.

Mad Mod walked over to where Superboy and Bard were sitting side by side.

"I wasn't really expecting you two." Mod admitted to them. "You must be new to the group. Hmm, you must be Superboy and you are…Beard!"

Bard stared.

"Do I look like I have a beard to you?" He snapped.

"Well, you _could_ use a shave…" Superboy snickered.

"At least I _can _shave! Anyway, did I ask for your input?" Bard asked irritably.

"Did I ask for you to punch me last night?" Superboy shot back.

"Just shut up!"

"You shut up!"

"Brat!"

"Choir boy!"

"_Yankee!"_

"_Hippie!"_

Bard's eyes went flat behind his glasses.

"I _know_ you didn't just call _me_ a hippie!" He uttered threatening.

"You hit Superboy?" Raven cut in.

"Well…"

"_Heeeellllllllllloooo?_" Mad Mod said, waving his cane. "The psychedelic bad guy is right here. Remember?"

All three heroes sweat dropped.

"Now, as I was saying before…_that._" He waved his hand vaguely in their direction "Superboy, I'll put you in…gym."

"Heh, piece 'o' cake!" Superboy smiled confidently, casting a smug look over at Bard.

"Don't be so sure…" Raven told him.

Mad Mod pressed a button on his cane, and Superboy fell.

"I feel so much better now, for some reason." Bard confided to his sister with a bright smile.

"Hold onto that feeling while you can," Raven said. "Listen, this place is full of all kinds of booby traps. Nothing is what it seems and-"

"That's enough information, duckie." Mad Mod interrupted her. "Don't spoil the surprise for him." He turned to Bard. "I think I'll put you in…Music class!"

"Music class?" Bard scoffed. "If there's a better guitar picker on the planet than me, I haven't met him yet. I could _teach_ a music class!"

"All right, then." Mad Mod said to him magnanimously. "Name a Monkeys' song."

"Uh…..well," Bard decided to take a shot in the dark. "'There's a Tear in my Banana'?" He guessed weakly.

"Ernnnnnnnt! Wrong!" Mad Mod cackled. He pressed a button on his cane and Bard found himself falling.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh-oof!" His chair hit hard on another black and white tiled floor.

"Welcome to Music 101!"

Bard did a double take.

"Mod?" He said incredulously. "But, weren't you just-"

"Freaky, isn't it?" Mad Mod grinned. "This place is so shagadelic!"

"Where is this place?"

"Uh-uh-uh, Bard." Mad Mod waved a finger at him. "The only thing you'll learn here is music, and what this place is has nothing to do with it!"

Bard's brow furrowed in concentration. This disco nut hadn't said '_where_ this place is', he had said _what_…

"Now, onto the lesson." Mad Mod said. "The Monkeys-"

"Hey MM, I've got an idea." Bard interrupted him. "It's absolutely…shagadelic." The cowboy almost choked on the word.

"I'm listening," Mad Mod looked interested. "But if this is one of your bratty tricks…"

"Of course not!" Bard said indignantly. "I figured I could play ya a Monkeys song on the guitar."

"You don't even know a Monkeys song." Mod half sneered. "How can you play one?"

"You mean before?" Bard acted surprised. "I was just playing around then!"

"Then what song are ya gonna play?" Mod wanted to know, obviously not convinced.

"Well, um…" Bard desperately racked his brain for any memory of a band called 'The Monkeys', but he simply couldn't find one. "Um…'I'm a Believer'?" He guessed hesitantly.

Mad Mod stared menacingly at the cowboy for a moment and Bard gulped. But then Mod suddenly grinned from ear to ear.

"I love that song!" He exclaimed. "Me and the chicks used to shag to that-"

"Well, then," Bard said, shocked that his thin ploy had actually worked and _definitely _not wanting to hear about _that_. "Give me a guitar, get me out of these straps and let's….boogie!"

God, how he hated himself right now…

Mad Mod pushed a button on his cane and the straps holding Bard whirled back and away from him. Then, Mod snapped his fingers and a multicolored electric guitar poofed into his hand out of the air.

Bard blinked.

"Neat trick," he breathed, then he reached out and took the guitar from Mod. Suddenly, he grinned. "You have absolutely no idea what my powers are, do you?" He asked.

Before the 'hip' villain could even formulate a response to that, Bard had played a quick melody on the guitar.

**FLASH! POOF!**

A huge fireball erupted the electric guitar and, when it hit Mod, he exploded into a puff of smoke.

Bard blinked…several times. Something fishy was going on here. People didn't just…poof; and neither did guitars. Shaking his head, he stepped out of the room while the getting was good with his newfound guitar on his back and found himself in a long, white-walled hallway with the same tiled floor as the rest of the place.

**ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!**

His trench coat fluttering, Bard whirled to see what was attacking him…A floating statue of Mad Mod's head equipped with a laser in his mouth? This guy was very…strange, to say the least. But Bard didn't have time to dwell on it, since a couple of the statue's friends had joined it.

**ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!**

Bard took off down the hallway in the opposite direction, his trench coat flapping behind him and his cowboy boots clanking loudly against the black and white tiled floor. Though he was no Flash, Bard could run faster than any 'normal' person he had ever met. But nonetheless, the flying heads drew closer, as did their aim. Desperately, he yanked open the first door he came to and leapt inside. He slammed it quickly and put his ear to it and heard the flying statues whiz past. He let out a sigh of relief.

"If you can dodge a laser, you can dodge a ball!"

**ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!**

Bard turned quickly. It was Mad Mod again! How in the world could he be in so many places at one time?

The cowboy looked around and saw that he was in a huge gym, complete with bleachers and a basketball court. Mad Mod, in a British flag shirt, lounged comfortably in the bleachers with a whistle around his neck. He seemed to be enjoying himself immensely. Superboy, on the other hand, was having a really hard time. He was on the middle of the basketball court, urgently dodging red laser fire that seemed to come from every angle out of the walls.

"Mod - I - am - gonna - kill - you!" Superboy said, dodging a laser with every breath. Even with his superhuman speed, he was having one hell of a time trying to come out unscathed.

"Why Superboy," Mad Mod said with a mocking show of surprise. "What a way to address your teach-" Someone tapped him on the shoulder and the villain turned; right into Bard's Mark McGuire like swing of the electric guitar.

**POOF!**

Once again, the psychedelic bad guy vanished in a puff of smoke and the lasers stopped coming at Superboy. Bard plopped down on the bleachers, reached into his trench coat and lit up a cigarette.

"Didn't know you smoked," Superboy panted, his voice subdued as he slowly walked over.

Bard took a long drag from the cancer stick and blew smoke out of his nose.

"Looks like you really do learn something new everyday." He replied, flicking ashes onto the bleachers uncaringly. Bard took another long drag from his cigarette. He was sure glad he brought those things… The cowboy froze as an impossibility came to him.

"Hey, Superboy," he said as casually as possible. "Uh, what were you wearing last night when you went to bed?"

Superboy stared at him and opened his mouth to say something, but Bard quickly raised his free hand.

"No smart remarks, please." He asked tiredly. "Just answer the question."

The Boy of Steel shrugged.

"I was wearing my costume."

"How about your jacket?"

"Nope. I don't sleep in my-" He stopped when he realized he was wearing his black leather jacket. "Maybe Mod put it on me after the knockout gas took effect."

"Maybe," Bard said doubtfully. "But think about this: I was only wearing a pair of gym shorts when I went to bed last night and-"

"_Way_ too much information, man."

"Shut up," Bard told him absently. "Anyway, I was only wearing a pair of shorts, and look at what I have on now." He waved down at his jeans, boots, sleeveless black shirt and trench coat. "Do you really think he'd go through all the trouble to put this one me? And look at this," he pointed to the black cowboy hat on his head.

"So, what?"

"So, I don't _own_ a black cowboy hat."

"…..Oh,"

"And what about Raven?" Bard continued. "She was wearing her cloak of hers upstairs, right? She doesn't sleep in that thing, does she?"

Superboy opened his mouth to reply, but Bard quickly put his hand up again.

"Don't even answer that." He told him. "You don't want to get yourself in trouble."

"I wasn't even gonna say something like that." Superboy paused. "How did you get to be so…observant."

Bard ignored that.

"And Mad Mod," he pointed out. "There was one upstairs, one in the music room and one here in the gym. People just can't be in three places at once. Not to mention the fact that they…exploded into smoke."

Superboy yawned.

"You _are_ leading somewhere with this, right?"

"Yes," Bard snapped irritably. "Have you ever seen 'The Matrix'?"

"Who hasn't?"

"That's what I think we're in."

"You think we're in the matrix?" Superboy glanced sidelong at him. "I think you've flipped you lid."

"No, I don't think we're in the _matrix_." Bard answered exasperatedly. "I think we're in some kind of computer program."

"Okay," Superboy conceded. "That would explain Mod being in more than one place at a time and stuff, but what do our clothes have to do with it?"

Bard squinted his eyes behind his glasses.

"Remember when Keanu Reeves was in the 'real world'? His head was shaved and he had this big hole in the back of his neck."

"So?"

"So, when he went into the matrix, he had a full head of hair and that hole was gone, not to mention he had on better clothes." Bard explained. "Supposedly, you appear in a computer program the way you _think_ you're supposed to look…I think. The question is now, how do we get out?"

"Find a phone?" Superboy shrugged.

"That's just a movie."

"Just a movie?" Superboy echoed. "You just used it to explain where we're at, didn't you?"

"That was different."

"How so?"

Bard sweat dropped.

"I think we should find the others first before we start looking for a way out." He decided.

"You didn't answer the question," Superboy accused him.

"You noticed that, huh? C'mon, let's go."

This time it was Superboy's turn to mutter under his breath, and Bard's smile at that was incandescent. Bard put the electric guitar on his back again, put out his cigarette and led Superboy to the hallway outside.

"I got it!" Superboy exclaimed and snapped his fingers suddenly.

"Got what?"

"How we can get out of here." Superboy answered. "Mod's cane! It controls everything else in this place, right?"

"Maybe," Bard conceded. "But we need to find the others first."

"Why bother?" Superboy asked. "All we gotta do is get the cane and we can all get out of here."

Bard shook his head.

"We have to make sure they're not in danger. Remember the movie? If you die in the matrix, you die in real life."

"All the more reason to hurry up and get the cane and get out of here." Superboy shrugged.

"The Titans do things as a team." Bard persisted. "If you wanted to be a solo hero, you could have stayed in Metropolis."

"Hey, don't try to make me the bad guy here, I'm just trying to do what's best for the team, okay?"

"Like hell," Bard growled. He was starting to get frustrated. "You're nothing but a glory hound!"

"At least I'm not some holy roller who looks down his nose at everybody else!"

"Holy roller?" Bard repeated. "I am not, I-" He stopped. "You know what? I don't have time for this. If you want to go and try to get the cane, be my guest."

"Fine! I will!"

Both teens stomped off in opposite directions. They both reached a door at the opposite ends of the hallway. They both opened their respective doors and stared.

"What the-"

Superboy stood right in front of Bard and vice versa. The both looked behind them and saw the other in front of an open door at least fifty yards away. They sweat dropped.

"We're gonna have to stick together." Bard said a little reluctantly. "Otherwise, we'll just go around in circles."

"All right, but I'm still going after the cane." Superboy declared.

Bard groaned loudly, lifted his glasses and put his hand wearily over his eyes.

"All right," he finally decided. "We'll play it both ways. If we run into Mod, we'll go after the cane. But if we run into someone else, we join up with'em. Deal?"

"….Deal,"

They chose a different door and continued along another hallway.

"Ya know," Superboy said. "Getting the cane is still a better idea…"

"Will you _please_ shut up?" Bard droned, surprisingly sounding at bit like his sister as he opened a door at random.

The two boys walked into a classroom. At the front of the class was a huge movie screen that was showing…

Bard coughed and looked away. Starfire sat strapped to a chair in the middle of the classroom.

"Star?" Bard called to her.

"Bard! Superboy! I am overjoyed to see you! I-"

"Where's Mod?" Bard interrupted.

"I have not seen him."

Bard nodded and went to work on her bonds.

"Interesting movie," Superboy said slyly, watching it openly.

"I found it so myself," Starfire answered seriously. "Of course, I was aware of the ritual of reproduction, but this movie shows it in quite a…fascinating light."

"Oh, yeah?" Superboy almost leered in response. "What was your favorite part?"

"I-"

"Knock it off, Superboy." Bard growled.

"Okay, okay," Superboy said defensively. "I was just trying to have a stimulating conversation!"

"I know what you were doing," Bard answered threateningly. "You were trying to stimulate something, but it sure as the sun is going to rise tomorrow not a conversation." He finally released Starfire from the chair and helped her up. "All right, let's go."

They hadn't taken two steps out into the hallway when:

"Excuse me, friend Bard." Starfire said sweetly. "But may I ask you a question?"

"Shoot,"

In a blink of an eye, Starfire had a glowing green star bolt in her hand.

"Shoot what?" She asked quickly, roving the hallway with her eyes.

Bard sweat dropped.

"No, Star." He said gently. "I meant go ahead and ask me your question."

"Oh," the star bolt in her hand faded and disappeared.

"All right, so what's your question?" Bard threw over his shoulder at her as he lead them down another tiled hallway. Mad Mod sure did have a weird fascination with tiles…

"What exactly is, how did they say it….'masturbation'?"


	29. There Is No Spoon

"_I'm the only one around here that's supposed to make corny, lame jokes!" - Beast Boy_

_**CHAPTER TWENTY NINE**_

_**THERE IS NO SPOON**_

Bard, his face red, continued to lead Starfire and a snickering Superboy down a hallway in Mad Mod's virtual reality and tried his best to act as if he hadn't heard his Tammaranian teammate's question.

"C'mon, Bard." Superboy cajoled him with an evil grin. "You gonna answer the girl, or what?"

Bard cast a death glare at the Boy of Steel, but it only succeeded in making the super powered teen laugh.

"Yes," Starfire agreed. "An answer to my question would be most accommodating."

"Ask Robin," Bard muttered as he led them around a corner.

"But Robin is not here." She paused, and Bard could almost feel her thought process. "Do you think he is okay?" She asked. "It can be quite dangerous here and-"

"He can take care of himself." Bard told her, thankful that the subject of their conversation had changed to something less….sexual. "I'm sure he's fine." He looked over at Superboy. "Why don't you explain to her where we are?" He suggested.

Superboy started his explanation to her, but Bard tuned them out as they continued along. He had found Superboy and Starfire. Now he needed to find Raven, Beast Boy, Cyborg and Robin, the latter two would probably be together. Beast Boy would probably in a cafeteria somewhere and Raven… Well, he had no idea where Raven might be. He just hoped she was okay, wherever she was.

Suddenly, Bard stopped and raised his hand, signaling for Superboy and Starfire to stop as well.

"What is it, man?" Superboy wanted to know, but Bard waved him silent.

"Someone's coming," he whispered. "It might be Mod."

The three of them pressed themselves against the wall and waited just beside a corner. Bard slowly gripped his electric guitar and held up three fingers.

Three…..Two…..One…..

"Hyaaaaa!"

"Kyaaaa!"

"Ragggggh!"

"Tyaaaaa!

"Hiyaaaaa!"

Everyone froze and it looked like God had pressed the 'pause' button. Bard had stopped the guitar in mid swing that would have leveled Robin, and the Boy Wonder had three birdarangs between his gloved fingers. Superboy's fist was reared back, Starfire had a flickering green star bolt in her hand and Cyborg had aimed his glowing blue supersonic cannon at the Boy of Steel. They stayed that way for a long moment before taking a sigh of relief and lowering their weapons.

"Are you guys all right?" Robin asked.

Bard nodded.

"More or less," he answered. "We think-" He paused as he noticed something. "Um, Robin…why are wearing an apron?"

"What?" Robin looked down at himself, blushed a crimson red and then savagely ripped the garment away from himself. "I don't know how that got on me…" He simpered.

"Rigggggghhht," Superboy said sarcastically.

"Have you seen Raven?" Bard asked.

Robin shook his head and once again went into 'leader mode'.

"You're the first people we've seen since we've escaped. Anyway, I think we have a big problem here." He told them. "I don't think this is the same place we were in last time. Cyborg and I have looked everywhere, but we can find a control room anywhere. I've got a sinking feeling that we're in a real place this time."

"Control room?" Bard asked.

"Last time Mod got us we were in a big funhouse kinda place and the real Mad Mod was controlling everything from behind the scenes." Cyborg explained.

"I don't think this place is the real deal." Bard said. "I think we're in some kind of virtual reality." He explained his theory to them.

"It's entirely possible." Robin conceded thoughtfully after Bard had finished. "But where would Mod get that kind of technology…and how do we get out?"

"The cane controls everything else in this place, right? Maybe that's it."

"I came up with that, by the way!" Superboy told them quickly.

"You might be right," Robin said.

"The problem me and Superboy had was that we didn't know whether we should go after the cane or find everyone else first." Bard said to Robin. "What do you think?"

Robin rubbed his chin.

"We'll do both," he decided. "If we run into Mod, we can go after the cane, but if we run into Raven or Beast Boy, we'll free'em."

"That's exactly what I came up with." Bard grinned.

"Told you you were a leader," Robin replied. "Now, let's move out!"

Bard felt a bit better as he fell in behind Robin and the others, deciding to bring up the rear. Everyone might _call_ him a leader, but he had never liked being one. The pressure was too much for him. Sometimes he wondered how Robin shouldered that massive responsibility everyday.

"Uh, uh, uh duckies!" Mad Mod's voice came out of nowhere. "No skipping class!"

The Titans searched everywhere with their eyes.

"I don't see him!" Bard called out.

"My cyber optics aren't picking up anything either!" Cyborg announced.

"Cyborg, Robin, get back to your class immediately!" Mad Mod continued. "You didn't even finish baking your cake!"

"Make us!" Robin voiced his challenge, his metal staff at the ready.

"You asked for it, birdie!"

The monster materialized out of thin air. It was a…fudge monster. There was no other way to describe it. It was covered from head to toe with thick, brown fudge and it's eyes were two giant cherries.

"That's the cake?" Superboy asked incredulously. "What in the world did you guys put it in?"

"Titans, go!"

As always, Robin was the first to attack. He leapt up, spun in mid air and catapulted his foot into the monster's chest. But his metal toed shoe simply sank in to the monster's cake body. The Boy Wonder tried to free himself, but it was too late.

**WHAM!**

The monster smashed his fudge hand hard into Robin's face, freeing him and sending him spinning across the tiled floor.

Cyborg was the next one up to bat. He ran forward and locked hands with the chocolately monster. They vied against each other in a contest of strength, but suddenly the monster changed to fluid and Cyborg tumbled through it. The monster quickly went solid again and back kicked Cyborg to the ground.

Bard blinked.

"I didn't know cake monsters were such good fighters…"

"Hyaaaa!"

Superboy flew forward and flung a super power punch at their foe. His fist hit dead on with the monster's head and fudge splattered everywhere. But then the head rematerialized.

**WHAP!**

Superboy went flying backwards.

"Ryaaaagh!"

A gaping hold appeared in the fudge monster's stomach from Starfire's star bolt.

"That's it!" Robin called out. "Hit him with energy attacks!"

Bard shot a fireball from his guitar, Cyborg blasted away with his sonic cannon, Robin flung exploding birdarangs and Starfire continued to throw star bolts. In no time at all, the monster was gone, but there was fudge everywhere.

"Let's keep moving," Robin said, seemingly unfazed by the fight. "I wouldn't want this guy to pull himself together or anything."

"No kiddin'," Cyborg agreed.

They continued on quickly, wanting to put as much distance between them and the remains of the fudge monster as possible.

Superboy suddenly grinned.

"Hey, Starfire." He said. "Didn't you have a question you wanted to ask Robin?"

Bard buried his face into his hands with a groan.

"Oh yes, I had nearly forgotten!" Starfire said and looked over at Robin. "Could you answer a question for me, Robin?"

"Sure, Star. I'll try." Though his tone was friendly, he barely looked at her. His eyes were peeled for any kind of danger.

"Well, I wanted to know: What is mas-"

"Nooooooooooooooooo!" A high-pitched voice wailed out.

"Beast Boy!" Bard said.

"It was close, too." Cyborg added.

"This way!" Robin lead them through a door and into a huge cafeteria.

"Stop it!" Beast Boy's voice was strained. "I am _so_ not gonna let you hypnotize me again! Fight it, BB... Don't' look at the screen…Don't look at the screen…!"

The green changeling was strapped to a wall and empty, upright lunch trays were going by on a conveyer belt, each with a black and white hypno screen on it.

"Superboy, Bard, don't look at the screens!" Robin barked, then he leapt forward and quickly freed Beast Boy.

"Thanks," Beast Boy said to him, but then he looked up at the ceiling triumphantly. "Ha! You couldn't hypnotize me this time! How do you like that, huh!" He stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry.

Bard grinned and clapped Beast Boy good naturedly on the back. Meanwhile, Robin was looking around, his hidden eyes analyzing everything in the room.

"This would be a good place to take the cane from Mod." He mused.

"Shouldn't we find Raven first?" Bard asked.

"Maybe," Robin admitted. "But this is the best place for a full scale fight. We want to overwhelm Mod with our superior numbers, but we can't do that if we're in a narrow hallway, right?"

Bard frowned as Robin turned and explained their situation to Beast Boy. The cowboy couldn't dispute the Boy Wonder's logic, but that didn't mean he had to like it…

"A computer program?" Beast Boy asked after Robin was finished.

"Like the matrix," Bard clarified.

"Dude, for real? Awesome!" The changeling exclaimed. "Hey! Maybe I'm the-" He spun around on his heel and fell into a 'cool' pose. "The One!"

"…"

"I'm serious!" Beast Boy burst out. Then he bowed his head and closed his eyes. "There is no spoon, there is no spoon…" He chanted over and over.

Starfire was puzzled.

"Why does Beast Boy wish for eating instruments to cease to exist?" She asked.

"I thought I told you to get back to class, duckies!" Mad Mod bellowed, twirling his cane lightly.

The Teen Titans, minus Raven, spun around to face his voice. Mod was in the flesh this time. He wore a kung-fu suit that was covered with the blue and red British flag pattern all over it.

"Dude, that is _so_ tacky!" Beast Boy quipped.

"Titans, go!" Robin barked. "Get that cane!"

With Robin leading the way, the Titans sprang forward. Bard, on the other hand, whipped out his laser pistol and aimed it at the shagadelic bad guy.

**ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!**

Mad Mod waved his hand at the red blasts as if they were irritating mosquitoes and they reversed their course and came right back at the dumbfounded cowboy.

"Aw, sh-"

Somehow, Bard leapt over the first blast, ducked under the second and spun away from the third. He panted nervously as he looked at where the laser blasts had collided with the wall behind him. Man, he was a lucky dog… He looked up and saw that the rest of the Titans had circled around Mod.

He blinked stupidly.

Here were five of the greatest superheroes on earth and Mad Mod was fending them off like they were toddlers with his cane. Beast Boy had changed into a giant green gorilla, but Mod dodged each time he threw a powerful swipe at him, all the while avoiding Starfire's star bolts. Cyborg tried for his famous left hook, but Mod deflected it easily and kicked him away while deflecting Robin's flurry of staff strikes with his cane. Even Superboy with his superhuman strength and speed couldn't land a single attack. Something was definitely wrong here…

With a rebel yell, he ran forward into the fray, leapt, reared back his fist and-

**WHAM!**

Plowed it directly into Mad Mod's sharp nose. The villain hit the floor and slid back a couple of feet from the blow.

"You-you hit me!" Mod uttered incredulously, staring at Bard with disbelief.

"Now!" Robin ordered quickly. "Gang up on him!"

Everyone ran forward, but Mod stoop up on his hands and began to spin himself around faster and faster, his outstretched legs much akin to helicopter blades. When he had sufficient space, he flexed his skinny arms and vaulted himself back onto his feet.

"So, you know the secret of this place, huh ducky?" Mad Mod stared right at Bard, more or less totally ignoring everyone else.

Bard didn't reply. He felt two times stronger and faster than he had ever been in his entire life. He tossed his cowboy hat behind him and cracked his neck.

"Haughhh!"

"Raughhhh!"

Both Mod and Bard leapt forward to do battle upon each other, and their blows and counter blows moved so fast that it was hard to follow them. Mod blocked Bard's initial punch and tried to chop into his chest, but Bard ducked in the nick of time. The cowboy tried to land an back elbow, but Mod blocked it with both arms and attempted to sweep his feet from out under him. Bard back flipped over the attack just in the nick of time, hung in midair for a moment and smashed both of his cowboy boots into Mod's chest. As Mod went flying across the room, Bard landed gracefully in a crouch.

"Aw, man!" Beast Boy wailed. "This is so unfair! Why does he get to be 'the One'?"

Bard kept a serious and a suitable 'badass' expression on his face, but inside he felt like grinning from ear to ear. This was fun! Meanwhile, Mad Mod had gotten back up to his feet.

"If this is such a freaky party," he grinned and showed his bad, British teeth. "Then why don't I invite all my friends!"

"Yeah, like _you_ have friends…" Beast Boy joked.

Mod closed his eyes and, all of a sudden, he was joined by three more…Mad Mods?

Maybe this wasn't as fun as Bard thought…

"Okaaaay," Beast Boy sweat dropped. "Why it is that all super villains have to prove me wrong?" He demanded.

"Shag-

"-O-"

"-Del-"

"-Ic!"

The four Mod's charged at Bard, twirling their respective canes. Bard whipped out the metal staff Robin had given him just in time.

**CL-CL-CL-CL-CL-CL-CL-CLANK!**

Bard had somehow fended off the first volley of cane attack from the four Mods, but-

**POKE!**

One of the canes flashed beneath his guard and jabbed him deeply in the stomach.

"Oof!"

The air was pushed out of his lungs and he bent over sharply. The middle Mod kicked him right in the face with his platform shoe. He flipped backward through the air at the impact and landed back first on a long lunch table.

Why was it that just about everyone that kicked him wore platform shoes?

"Titans, go!" Robin shouted again after gathering his bearings. "Get the cane!"

"Which one?" Cyborg asked over the roar of his supersonic cannon.

"I don't know! Whichever one you can get your hands on!" Robin answered as he launched himself in the air. "Go!"

For some reason, each of Mod's alter ego's were weaker than the original. The Boy Wonder flipped through the air and planted a metal toed shoe into one Mod, and then bounced off and flung an exploding birdarang at another. The second Mod ducked the projectile, but it stuck in the wall right behind him.

**TI-TI-TI-TI-TICK…BOOM!**

The concussion of the blast sent Mod flying forward. Robin lunged forward and grabbed his cane.

"Got one!" He announced.

A giant roar from a big, green T-Rex was the only reply the hero received. Robin pressed the button on the cane, but nothing happened. He let out a curse under his breath.

"This one's a dud!" He called out. He brought the cane sharply down on his knee and broke it.

Bard got back up and grabbed a Mod from behind, pinning his arms to his side.

"Now, Cyborg!"

The android didn't have to be told twice.

**WHAM!**

Mod slumped to the floor unconscious from Cyborg's big metal hook punch. Bard picked up the cane from his unfeeling hands and pushed the button.

"No good," he said, throwing the cane away.

"Aw, well." Cyborg replied. "Two down and two to go!"

Across the room, the T-Rex whipped around his tail and smacked one of the two remaining Mods across the room….right into a star bolt power right punch from Starfire.

**KABLAM!**

Mod hit the ground hard, smoking. Beast Boy picked up the cane.

"Not this one either!" He said. Everyone turned and looked at the last remaining Mod.

"That's right," he told them. "I'm the real deal! And this is the real cane! C'mon and get it if you can, duckies!"

All the Titans stepped forward. Bard hummed under his breath and held a blazing fireball in his hand, Robin was posed with three birdarangs between his fingers and Starfire's hands were glowing with two green star bolts. Beast Boy changed into a huge, slavering emerald grizzly bear, Superboy flexed his muscles with a boyish grin and Cyborg had his supersonic cannon aimed and powered up.

Mad Mod put a finger to his collar, sweat dropped and laughed nervously.

"…." He turned and bolted for the door.

"After him!" Robin barked out, but there was no need. Just as Mod entered the doorway out-

**POP!**

An exotically colored fist came out of nowhere and hit Mod right in the teeth Raven walked into the room, gracefully reached down and grabbed the cane. Then she looked at the other Titans.

"Can we go now?" She droned.

The Titans stared.

"Raven, where have you been?" Robin, Bard and Beast Boy asked at almost he same time.

Raven blinked, but then her face went stony.

"I _don't_ want to talk about it,"

"C'mon, Raven." Cyborg said. "It couldn't have been any worse than Home Ec.!"

The dark sorceress looked at her teammate for a long time. Then, she dispassionately opened her cloak….to reveal a cheerleading outfit.

Cyborg and Beast immediately fell over laughing, Robin chuckled and Bard smiled.

"Whoa, you look hot in that thing, Raven." Superboy grinned lecherously. Bard elbowed him hard in the side. "Ow! It was a compliment!"

"Compliment yourself," Bard grated.

Superboy waved a hand through his wavy black hair and put on his red, mirrored shades.

"They're aren't enough hours in the day, my man."

Bard laughed in spite himself.

"I can't take anymore of this…" Raven muttered and pushed the button on the cane.

**FLASH!**

Bard awoke in some kind of white, metallic pod. He pushed the screen off the top of his coffin-like confinement and stepped out. Sure enough, he was clad in only a pair of dark blue gym shorts. Silently, Raven walked over to him, unfastened her cloak and put it around his shoulders.

Maybe she _did_ sleep in that thing…

"Thanks," he said to his half sister.

Raven didn't reply.

"No time to celebrate yet." Robin told them. "We still have to find the real Mod!"

"I don't think that'll be a problem." Superboy grinned. He sat on a desk in the corner of the room, reached blindly behind him and nonchalantly picked the old man up by the scruff of his neck.

Everyone smiled.

"Book'em, Dan-o!" Bard joked.

"…"

"Hey!" Beast Boy protested. "I'm the only one around here that's supposed to make corny, lame jokes!"

Everyone burst out laughing.

"I think that's the funniest thing I've ever heard you say." Cyborg told him. Then he went to study the pods and the main control panel where Mod had been hiding.

"Hmph," Beast Boy turned away offended and crossed his arms over his chest.

"All right, good job team." Robin complimented them. "Now, let's move out!"

One by one, the Titans left the lab until only Bard and Superboy were left in the room.

"That's a good look for you." Superboy said sarcastically to him.

"Ha, ha, very funny." Bard replied, but then he paused "Well, it looks like we got out of their with our skin in tact…"

Superboy nodded.

"Ya know…there's nothing between me and Raven, right?" The Boy of Steel said then. "When we went to the mall, she pretty much told me that she'd rather kill me than date me."

Bard tried his best not to grin at that, but only half succeeded.

"Well, if we're gonna be teammates, we might as well be friends, right?" Bard said to him. Hesitantly, the two boys shook hands.

"I don't, by the way." Superboy said as the two of them walked towards the door.

"Don't what?"

"Have X-ray vision,"

"Good," Bard grinned. "Now I don't have to kill you."

Both of them laughed at that.

"Robin, Robin!" Starfire was saying as the two of them entered the hallway. "Wake up!"

Bard and Superboy quickly went over to where Starfire was kneeling over an unconscious Robin.

"What happened? Bard demanded, looking around for any danger.

"I do not know!" Starfire answered, still shaking Robin to wake him up. "All I did was ask him a question!"


	30. Temptation and Salvation

"_So you're saying that you're a big, walking, talking, ass whoopin' digital camera?" - Bard_

_**CHAPTER THIRTY**_

_**SALVATION AND TEMPTATION**_

Jonny was having a great dream. He was once again on a grassy bluff under the stars with Amber. She was as beautiful as ever. Her long, black hair was pushed behind her shoulder, letting her pale, angelic face take full glory. Her lips were full and her light blue eyes were shining and looked like molten silver in the moonlight. Slowly, their lips came closer and closer and closer together until-

"_**HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"**_

Jonny jerked awake immediately, kicking the blanket off of him. He wore a pair of black shorts and a white tank top. He reached awkwardly for his glasses and, once he put them on, Tim's grinning face filled his vision.

"What time is it?" Jonny groaned.

"Five 'o' clock," Tim answered promptly with a bright, toothy smile.

Jonny groaned again.

"This is the one day a year you wake up at five in the morning." Jonny complained. "Don't you know you're supposed to let you friends _sleep in_ on their birthdays?"

"You should be thanking me!" Tim contradicted gaily. "The earlier I wake you up, the longer you can enjoy your special day!"

Jonny eyed his friend bitterly.

"You enjoy torturing me, don't you?" He accused his friend. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Yup!"

Bard groaned for a third time and slowly got out of bed. As he smoked his ritualistic morning cigarette, he made small talk with Tim. After he had taken a shower and thrown on some clothes, Tim had dragged the cowboy to the most opulent restaurant they could afford: Bojangles. The two paid for their food and brought it to a table. Jonny opened up his steak biscuit and sipped at his Dr. Pepper as Tim literally dove into his sausage and bacon biscuit.

"How many pigs had to die so you could eat that?" Jonny joked.

"Don't care," Tim said though a packed mouthful. Then he put all his concentration into eating again. A minute and a half later, all three of Tim's biscuits had been eaten. Bard had taken perhaps three bites of his first one.

"Man, you eat slow." Tim observed, leaning back in his chair with a toothpick between his lips.

"No, you eat fast." Jonny twisted it around. "I like to savor the flavor."

"Oh yeah? Me, too! Watch!" Tim belched loudly, mightily offending an elderly couple that sat nearby. Jonny shook his head and chuckled. This was classic Tim.

"So," Tim said, moving his toothpick to the other side of his mouth. "You feel any older today or what?"

"I feel older everyday I get woke up before eight."

"C'mon, you know what I mean."

Jonny shrugged.

"How old am I now? Sixteen?" He blinked. "I am getting old, ain't I?"

"You'll be fifty before you know it." Tim assured him sarcastically. "So, what's your birthday wish for this year?"

"You know I'm not supposed to say."

"Pssh! That's only for when you're about to blow out the candles on a birthday cake!" Tim disagreed. "And you ain't never had a birthday cake in your life. So 'fess up!"

"Well," Jonny looked up thoughtfully. "I wish I could get enough money to take Amber to Nashville."

"That shouldn't be too hard." Tim said. "You'd only need a couple hundred buck to stay their a few days. You're a cheap bastard, anyway. Just save up from those odd jobs you're doin' all the time. You might need to save up a little more if you go to the Grand Ole Opry like you've always wanted to."

Jonny shook his head.

"I didn't mean to visit." He clarified. "I meant to go there to live."

"….Oh," Tim looked disappointed.

"You're welcome to come with us." Jonny invited him quickly.

"Naw, Nashville ain't my kinda place." Tim said with a wave of his hand, as if he were casting the invitation aside. "'Sides, Amber doesn't like me."

"Sure she does,"

"She called me a 'beer swilling, loud-mouthed pervert'!"

Jonny stared at him.

"Tim," he said slowly. "You _are_ a beer swilling, loud-mouthed pervert."

"Pssh! Yeah, maybe." Tim admitted. "But it ain't nice to come out and say it like that, right? You're not any better, though! You're a chain smoking….a chain smoking…" He fought for a derogatory word. "A chain smoking cowboy!"

"There's a difference, though." Jonny grinned at him. "She loves this 'chain smoking cowboy'."

"Yeah, yeah," Tim muttered. "People in love are so disgusting. You're lucky you're my friend, or I'd've dumped you a long time ago."

Jonny laughed.

"By the way," Tim said. "Don't get lost after you see Amber today. I want to talk to you about something."

"About what?"

"What else?" Tim told him. "Your wish, of course!"

Bard was pensive and mentally restless when he awoke the next morning after the Mad Mod escapades. He simply sat awake in his bed for a long time, but then he got up and grabbed his guitar. He strummed it idly for a few minutes, but even playing music wouldn't conquer his mental restlessness. He replaced the guitar in the corner and brought out his notebook and a pen from the drawer beside his bed. He turned to a blank page and wrote:

_Dear Journal,_

_I have_

He stopped. This wasn't what he really wanted to do. He didn't want to tell yesterday's story. He wanted to tell the whole story, his past along with his adventures with the Titans. He wanted people to know who he was, what he had done and what he stood for. And he also wanted them to know exactly who the Teen Titans were and what they gave up and risked to protect them everyday.

And besides that, Bard's creative mind knew that it would be one hell of a story. He turned to the next page and, in big bold letters, wrote "_**TITANS' SONG"**_ at the top of the page. The cowboy smiled to himself as he delved into the story; he was sure that this was what someone wanted him to do.

Later that afternoon, Amber was sitting on a bench in the town park, waiting for him. She wore a tight fitting pair of jeans and a dark red sweater that Jonny had always thought looked so good on her. When he saw her, he quickly loped over, gave her a quick peck on the lips and sat down next to her.

"Hey, hon." He greeted her.

"Happy birthday, Jonny."

"Thank ya," he smiled.

"I got something for you." Amber told him.

"Oh yeah?" Jonny said as he adjusted his cheap, felt cowboy hat. "What'd ya get me?"

"Look for yourself," she reached down beside her and handed him an ornately wrapped present

Jonny looked down at it. It was just a little bigger than a shoebox. On the top of it, just under the big red ribbon, was a card. He picked it up. On the front was an illustration of a horse sitting at a table playing poker and drinking beer with the words '_Save a horse'_ above it. He opened it up, and on the inside was a picture of a pretty girl smooching with a cowboy. Above it read '_Ride a cowboy!'_ and underneath, in Amber handwriting was '_Happy Birthday, with all my love'_.

With a smile, Jonny reached over with one arm and gave his girlfriend a hug.

"Thanks,"

"I did get you more than a card, ya know." Amber reminded him. "Are you going to open it up or admire the expert wrapping job?"

"Well, the wrapping job _is_ quite good…" Amber shoved him lightly and they both laughed. "Okay, okay," he told her. "Let's see what's in this thing!"

He ripped away the wrapping paper and lifted the lid of the box.

"All right!" He said enthusiastically as he lifted up the black cowboy hat from the box. He whistled as he examined it. "Wow, this thing is nice, too." He complimented as he admired the craftsmanship of the headwear.

"I figured it was time for a new one." Amber said to him. "Your old one has gotten a little beat up."

"Yeah," Jonny laughed. "Not to mention the fact that it was cheaper than a Yankee's soul."

"Hey!" Amber objected, a little offended. "My dad's from Boston!"

"I wouldn't tell him I said that, then." Jonny told her. "He doesn't like me, anyway."

Amber sighed.

"Do we have to have this conversation now?"

"Nope," Jonny grinned. "I'd rather kiss."

And that's exactly what they did.

"That hat isn't all that in the box, Jonny." She told him after they had settled back down.

With a raised eyebrow, he explored the confetti in the box…and found small, pocket sized bible.

"What's this for?" He asked.

"You're a good person." Amber explained. "But you need a little bit of guidance. Have you ever read it before?"

Jonny shook his head, idly flipping through the book.

"Will you read it now?" She asked. "For me?"

"Of course," he leaned over and kissed.

And then he put the small bible in the back pocket of his jeans.

Bard put down his pen and notebook, took a deep breath and rubbed his slightly sore wrist. He had written quite a bit that morning, but he admitted to himself that there was no way he could write the whole story in one day…especially when the story wasn't even over yet!

He put his pen and notebook back into his bedside drawer and stood up. He'd been sitting in his bed all morning and his muscles were stiff. He decided to go for a walk around the Tower to stretch them out. Besides, he hadn't had a chance to really explore this place yet.

He stepped out of his room and started down the hallway. He wasn't really sure where he was going, he was simply putting one foot in front of the other. Not long after, he stopped and looked around. Wasn't Raven's room around here somewhere? Maybe she'd like to walk with him. And, surprisingly to him, he realized he had yet to see his sister's room.

He stopped at the next door he came to. Maybe this was Raven's room? He pressed the button on the control panel next to the door and it slid open. He hesitantly stepped in and…quickly decided that this was _not_ Raven's room. It looked like a museum. A very, very _strange_ museum. In one glass case was a magician's hat with a white tipped wand sticking out of it bowl. In another was a wooden puppet with a hinged mouth and unseeing, painted on eyes. In yet another glass case were two identical remote controls that Bard identified as Control Freak's. He stepped over and peered down at them for a closer look.

"What'cha doin' man?"

Bard started and nearly jumped out of his skin. He whirled around, but sighed in relief when he saw that it was only Cyborg.

"Cy!" He breathed. "You scared the crap out of me!"

Cyborg grinned.

"What are ya doin' in here?"

"Just exploring," Bard shrugged. "What is this place, anyway?"

"Evidence Room," Cyborg answered. "Robin obsesses over evidence, for some reason. I think it has something to do with Batman. Robin told me once that the Bat Cave is covered with it."

"Robin actually talked to you about his past?" Bard asked incredulously.

"That's about all I could get out of him." Cyborg admitted. "I think the boy feels like he can't get close to anyone."

"But Starfire-"

"Yeah, that is weird." Cyborg commented. "I don't even know what their relationship is anymore. They're more than friends, but they're not exactly together." He shrugged.

"So, what are you doing here?" Bard asked him

"Just taking a break from work."

"Work?" Bard echoed. "What are you working on? Your cannon didn't short out again, did it?"

"Nah," Cyborg shook his head. "C'mon, and I'll show ya."

The big robot lead the cowboy out of the Evidence Room, down the hall and into his bedroom/lab.

"What do you do in here?" Bard marveled as he looked around at all the technology. "Work on cold fusion?"

"Nah, nothing like that." Cyborg lead the cowboy over to a wall where a number of blown up pictures were hung up.

"What's this stuff?"

"Mad Mod's virtual reality technology." Cyborg answered.

Bard blinked.

"I didn't know you carried a camera with you."

Cyborg grinned.

"Let's just say I have a 'photographic memory'."

"….Say what?"

"Everything I see goes into my databank." Cyborg explained. "All I did was call up the memory of seeing that technology and then process it into pictures using the Tower's computer."

Bard thought about that.

"So you're saying that you're a big, walking, talking, ass whoopin' digital camera?"

Cyborg heartily laughed out loud at that.

"I guess you could say that." He chuckled.

"Mod must have been a genius to make something like that." Bard observed.

"I don't think Mod made it."

"Then who did?"

"Dunno," Cyborg shrugged. "And I'm not curious enough to go down to the prison and ask him about it. Robin'll get around to it, probably."

"So, you're gonna build this thing?" Bard asked, looking back to the pictures.

"Yup," Cyborg answered. "Can you imagine the kind of video games you could make with this thing? It'll be the first ever _true_ virtual reality!"

Bard grinned at that, but then his brow furrowed.

"Where're you gonna come up with the money to make it?" He asked.

"Robin's gonna _finally_ reach down into our budget for it."

"Budget?"

"The taxpayers money, dawg."

"Robin doesn't really seem like someone who would use tax dollars for a video game system, no matter how cool it was." Bard commented.

"That's the thing," Cyborg replied slyly. "I didn't tell him it was a video game system. I told him it was a 'valuable battle training tool'. As soon as I said 'training' I had'em hooked!"

Bard laughed at that.

"Need any help with this?" He offered.

"Do you know anything about computers?"

"Uh…not really."

"That's all right," Cyborg waved his metal hand. "I'll teach you as we go along. Let's start at the beginning. All computers are based on a CPU; that stands for Central Processing Unit. What it does is-"

"What took you so freakin' long?" Tim demanded of Jonny as he waited for him in front of the orphanage. His hands were buried deep into his pockets and a light snow was floating down.

"I was with Amber." Jonny answered. "You knew that."

"Yeah, but I didn't know you'd be gone for so damn long." Tim said surly, but then a twinkle filled his eye. "Unless, of course, she gave you a birthday present…"

"Of course she did." Jonny told him. "She got me a cowboy hat."

Tim stared.

"I meant a _special_ birthday present…"

"I thought the hat was pretty special-" Jonny stopped as he realized what Tim was getting at. "Tim, you need a girlfriend." He said flatly to him then.

"All the girls around here are intimidated by my manliness." He shrugged.

"Yeah, and the fact that you try to get into their dress on the first date!"

"Pssh! They know they want it!"

Jonny shook his head. This was Tim, and nothing was ever going to make him change.

"Anyway," he dismissed that topic. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I found us a way to make some good money." Tim told him.

Jonny's jaw dropped.

"_You_ actually went looking for a _job?_"

"It's not exactly an official job…" Tim answered hesitantly.

Jonny's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"What is it then?"

"There's a new gang in town." Tim explained. "They call themselves the 'Ragin' Dragons' and they're looking for members."

"How are you supposed to make money by being in a gang?"

"Don't get me wrong, this isn't some 'I'm a Blood some I'm gonna smack some Crip' kind of thing. These guys are real pros. They're not in it for the pride, they're in it for the moolah."

Jonny shook his head.

"You know I can't. Amber-"

"So don't tell her." Tim shrugged. "This is for her anyway, right? All you gotta do is stick around until you make enough money, and then you can grab her and run off to Nashville."

Jonny thought about that for a long moment.

"All right," he finally agreed. "As long as I'm doin' it for Amber."

"You're disgusting, ya know that, right?" Tim put his beefy arm around his shoulders and led him down the street. "You're nothing but a lovesick puppy. C'mon, I set up an appointment for us."

Jonny blinked.

"You can set up an appointment with a gang?" He asked.

"Sure! I told you they were pros, didn't I?"

Jonny laughed at that and followed his friend, the bible in his back pocket all but forgotten.

"You look tired." Cyborg said to Bard, looking up from their work. "Why don't you go take a break?"

"I _could_ use a cigarette…" Bard admitted.

"Heh, I should have kept my mouth shut."

Bard grinned.

"I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Take your time!" Cyborg called after him as he stepped out of the room.

By now, the trip to the roof was like second to nature to Bard. He followed the dark, twisting hallways to the main elevator and pushed the top button. He was not at all surprised to find Raven there as he stepped out onto the roof.

"Good morning," He greeted her as he took out a cigarette and lit it up.

"Don't you mean afternoon?" Raven asked as she put aside her book. She was sitting on the ledge of the roof, her legs folded beneath her.

Bard frowned slightly around his cigarette at Raven's comment. Had he been helping Cyborg for the entire morning?

"I need to talk to you." Raven told him seriously.

Bard groaned inwardly.

"You hit Superboy and-"

"I know, I know," Bard interrupted her. "It was wrong and I shouldn't have done it. I apologize."

Raven blinked.

"I simply wanted to know why."

"Oh…" Bard sweat dropped. "Well, uh…you see-"

Raven stared at her floundering half brother, but then she smirked. It was her stoic version of a laugh.

"You thought I liked him?" She looked at Bard seriously. "I can't be close to _anybody_, but if I had my choice, it certainly wouldn't be Superboy."

Bard grinned at that.

"Now, are you ready to go?" She asked him.

Bard raised an eyebrow.

"Go where?"

"To the prison," she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "He wants us to interrogate Mod."

"About where he got that matrix technology?"

Raven nodded.

As the two stepped into the elevator, Bard turned to his sister.

"Let's do the good cop, bad cop thing." He suggested.

"Everyone knows 'good cop, bad cop', Bard."

"I know, but if this works out the way I'm thinking it will, it won't matter." He paused. "I'm gonna let you be the bad cop."

"…..Woo…..hoo,"

"I thought the excitement would be too much for ya," Bard grinned. "Now, have you ever done anything really intimidating? Something that would scare the ever living crap out of Mod?"

Raven tilted her face down and actually looked a little ashamed.

"…Dr. Light,"

"Let go of me, you squares!" Mad Mod protested as two burly policeman 'escorted' him into the visiting room. Bard sat nonchalantly at a plain, white table and Raven stood menacingly in the corner, her arms folded across her chest and her hood hanging over her face.

"Howdy," Bard greeted him with false jocularity. "Nice weather we're havin' ain't it?" The cowboy walked over to the single surveillance camera and unplugged it.

"….." Mod looked at him warily. He was a totally different man than what Bard had seen. He looked to be about thirty years older than his virtual counterpart.

"Why don't you sit down?" Bard motioned to the chair opposite of himself.

"I'll stand, thank you very much."

Bard shrugged.

"Look," he said seriously. "I'm not gonna play any interrogation games with you and I don't want to stay down here for hours wrangling with you. So I'm just gonna ask you the questions I want to know the answers to and them I'm gonna leave. All right?"

"I don't know anything," Mod spat out.

"I haven't even asked you anything yet."

"….."

"All right, let's cut right to the chase: How did you get that virtual reality technology?"

"….."

"Did you make it yourself?"

"…."

"Did someone sell it to you?"

"…"

"Are you gay?"

Mad Mod looked at him funny.

"Sorry," Bard apologized with a grin. "Just trying to get some kind of response from you."

Mod glanced over Bard's shoulder at Raven, and his face went ghost pale. Bard followed his line of sight and looked at Raven. Her eyes were glowing white.

"Uh-oh…." He said.

"Uh-oh?" Mad Mod repeated nervously. "What do you mean, 'uh-oh'?"

Bard stood up and leaned towards him confidentially.

"This is, uh, _that_ time of the month for her." Bard felt like cracking up inside, but he kept his face dead serious. "She's really dangerous now, so we usually try to keep her in the Tower. But we didn't have anyone else we could send here."

"Why's she getting mad for?"

"'Cause you're not talking." Bard shrugged.

"Well…she won't do anything to me, right?" Mod asked fearfully, and Bard suddenly realized just how old and feeble he really was. "What I mean is…she can't, right? She a superhero!"

"Normally, she wouldn't. But at this time of month…" He paused and leaned in to whisper. "You remember Dr. Light?"

Mad Mod nodded slowly.

"Well, when she did that to him…it was that time of the month again."

Mod gulped.

"Really?"

Suddenly, Raven took a menacing step towards them.

"Ahhhhhh!" Mod jumped into the air with fright. "I'll tell you all I know! Just keep her away from me!"

"All right," Bard said, trying not to grin. "Start talking."


	31. On The Road Again

_Jesus Christ! Why must I be surrounded by stupid dumbshits?" -Commissioner Walker_

_**CHAPTER THIRTY ONE**_

_**ON THE ROAD AGAIN**_

Mad Mod and Bard were sitting in the prison's visiting room and Raven was still situated threateningly in her corner.

"It all started a couple of months ago," Mod started, wringing his wrinkled hands nervously. "I woke up one morning and found a device in my room. It was square and…actually, it was about the size of a Rubix Cube." The old shagster paused. "Do you remember those? They were groovy! You could-"

"Let's stay on subject, all right?" Bard cut him off.

"Snotty brat," Mod muttered under his breath, but then he continued. "So, like I was saying: I woke up one morning and found a square device in my cell. At first, I thought it was a bomb, so I ran to the bars and yelled for a guard. But the disrespectful young whippersnapper just laughed at me and told me to shut up."

Bard suddenly felt pity for this man. His forte was illusions, and in them he was a formidable adversary. But in the real world, he was just an tired and weak old man.

"Anyway," Mod went on. "After an hour or so I convinced myself that it wasn't a bomb. I picked it up and started looking it over. There was a button on it, and when I pressed, I popped out."

Bard blinked.

"Pardon?"

"It was a hologram of myself." Mod explained.

"Reckon that explains how you escaped with no one noticing."

Mod nodded.

"Who sent it to you?"

"I don't know,"

Bard looked at him carefully for a moment, but then decided he was telling the truth.

"All right," he said. "How did you get the virtual reality technology?"

"Jinx,"

"_Jinx?"_ Bard repeated.

Mod nodded.

"The young pink haired girl with-"

"I know who she is." Bard told him. "Did she tell you why?"

The old man shrugged.

"The lass said something about it being her master's orders, or something."

Bard turned in his chair to look at Raven.

"Did you need anything else?"

She shook her head. Bard stood up and looked back at Mod.

"Thanks for your help." He started for the door.

"Bard," Mod called to him. The cowboy stopped and looked back. "Do you think you could…knock some time off my sentence. I was cooperative, right?"

"How long do you have?"

"Forty two more years."

"I'll see what I can do." Bard told him brusquely, knowing that he couldn't do a damn thing. He suddenly felt another wave of pity as he led Raven out of the room. This man was going to die in prison, behind bars, and would probably have no one to mourn for him… Suddenly, Bard popped his head back into the room.

"Hey, Mod,"

The old man looked up tiredly.

"Do you have a bible?"

"Sure," Mod answered, though he looked a little confused. "There's a bible in every cell."

"Good," Bard approved. "John 3:16."

"What?"

"John 3:16," Bard repeated. "Read it." Then he went back out into the hallway with his sister.

"What was that all about?" Raven wanted to know as she walked beside him, but the cowboy refused to answer.

"All right," Bard said, ignoring her question. "Why would Slade give that kind of technology to Mod?"

"To get him to kill us,"

Bard shook his head.

"I don't think so," he told her. "He still wants me alive, and I suspect he wants to take care of the rest of you personally. So what did he really want?"

"….."

"I think we should talk to Robin when we get back to the tower." Bard suggested. "He knows how Slade thinks better than I do."

"Are you sure?"

Bard stopped dead in his track and looked hard at his sister.

"Robin said the exact same thing to me a couple days ago." He accused.

"Robin is a remarkably perceptive person." She paused. "How do you know Slade, truthfully?"

"…"

"Fine, don't tell me."

A sudden thought came to Bard.

"You get a glimpse into people's minds when you touch them, right?" He said. "Why didn't you just touch Mod instead of having me wrangle with him?"

"I didn't want to touch him." Raven droned. "Besides, I wanted to see how you would do. You're actually a pretty effective interrogator."

"I had good back up," Bard shrugged modestly.

When the two half siblings reached the door…

"Great," Bard muttered to himself. "The angels are crying."

"What?"

"I said it's raining." The cowboy lied. "Good thing we brought the T-Car."

Bard ran through the door and scampered quickly over to the car. Then he pulled it up right in front of the building so Raven could get in while remaining moderately dry. Neither of them noticed the cloaked figure across the street that was watching them intently as they drove away.

Robin sat in front of a glowing lab top computer in his room, typing away speedily with his gloved fingers.

**KNOCK! KNOCK!**

"Come in," Robin called over his shoulder.

The metallic door slid open and Bard walked into the room.

"Back from interrogating Mod?" The Boy Wonder asked him.

Bard nodded.

"Yup, and the plot keeps getting thicker."

"What did you find out?"

"Jinx gave the virtual reality technology to Mod and helped him escape from the prison unnoticed."

"Jinx?" Robin sounded surprised. "How would Slade benefit from helping Mod?" He pondered.

Bard shrugged.

"That's a question I was hoping you could answer."

Robin brought a hand to his chin as he thought about it.

"I think Slade's just trying to distract us." He confessed finally. "When he kidnapped you, I think he was making his major move. But we interrupted that, so now he has to have time to come up with another plan."

"I reckon that makes sense." Bard agreed. Then he leaned down to look at the computer. "What is this?" He asked.

"I'm just answering some fan mail on our website."

Bard blinked.

"The Teen Titans have their own website?"

"Bard," Robin chuckled. "_Everything_ has it's on website nowadays." He paused as he read another letter. "I swear," he muttered. "If I had a dollar everyone accused me of being gay with Batman…"

Bard sweat dropped.

"Anyway," Robin went on. "I'm updating the roster biographies, too."

"Superboy's?" Bard guessed.

"No," Robin shook his head. "I already did his. I'm putting up yours."

"Mine?" Bard asked. "But I'm just a Titan Apprentice."

"Not anymore," Robin swiveled his chair to face him. "Welcome to the team, Bard." He was smiling as he handed Bard a Titans communicator.

Bard grinned foolishly from ear to ear.

"This means I'm a Teen Titan now?"

"That's right," Robin assured him. "By the way," he added. "I'm sure Beast Boy and Cyborg are gonna try to surprise you with the news, so act suitably surprised."

Bard's grin hadn't shrank in the slightest.

"I'll put on an acting performance Hollywood would be jealous of!"

Just before entering the main room of the tower, Bard took a deep breath, wiped the grin from his face and tried to show his most casual expression.

"_**Surprise!" **_Beast Boy and Cyborg leapt out of nowhere. Starfire stood smiling nearby, Superboy was lounging on the couch and Raven, totally unaffected by the colorful decorations and the large 'Welcome to the team!' sign hanging above, sat at her usual place on the futon with her nose buried in a book.

Bard's grin reappeared on his face.

"What? I didn't know my birthday was today." He paused and acted as surprised as possible. "I'm a…Titan?"

"That's right, dawg!" Cyborg slapped him good naturedly on the back, with Beast Boy right beside him.

"Yup, you're Titans member number eight!" Beast Boy told him.

"Seven," Raven corrected the changeling with a deadpan. "Besides, you're wasting your breath. He already knew."

"You informed friend Bard of his promotion?" Starfire asked the sorceress, her voice extremely disappointed.

Raven simply shook her head silently.

"Robin!" Cyborg exclaimed. "Why does he suck he have the fun out of everything?"

"I know!" Beast Boy agreed with his friend. "I think the Boy Wonder has a big stick shoved up his-Hey, Robin! What's up?"

The leader of the Teen Titans looked at the changeling funny. He had walked into the room smack dab in the middle of Beast Boy's tirade. Finally, Robin shrugged it off.

"I thought that maybe we'd go out tonight to celebrate a new member." He suggested.

"Hey!" Superboy protested from the couch. "You guys didn't do this for me when _I_ became a member!"

"They like me better than you." Bard replied smugly, but then he paused. "'You guys'?" He mimicked. "It's 'ya'll'."

"Whatever…"

"All right," Robin corrected himself. "I thought we'd go out tonight to celebrate _both_ our new members."

"Where did you wish to visit to celebrate Bard and Superboy's official induction?" Starfire asked Robin.

The Boy Wonder shrugged.

"How 'bout 'The Cat's Cradle'?" Cyborg suggested. "That place is always jumpin' on Saturday nights."

"All right, then!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "Let's go!"

Bard found one thing a little disconcerting about the Titans. When most teens went out, they would first have to 'get ready'; put on clothes, fix their hair, that kind of stuff. But the Teen Titans always looked the same. Bard was the only exception to this rule, and he wondered if a costume was in his immediate future.

Within a minute of arriving at The Cat's Cradle dance club, Bard knew that this wasn't his kind of place. Multicolored lasers streaked everywhere, the main lights were dimmed and flashing white strobe lights gave the illusion that everything was a surreal dream. Sweating teenage bodies swayed rhythmically on the dance floor to loud, techno beats.

"Oh, yeah!" Cyborg said happily over the music, spreading his titanium arms wide as if absorbing the atmosphere into himself. "Now I'm alive!"

"You were right, Cy!" Beast Boy grinned. "This place is _hoppin'!_"

The two friends, joined by Robin, quickly got onto the dance floor and started 'getting down'. Bard blinked at the groovin' superheroes incredulously and shook his head. This was just too weird. Sometimes outsiders forgot that, even though these people were legends, they were still normal people…mostly, anyway.

"C'mon, Bard!" Beast Boy called to him. "You gonna show us some of your moves, or what?"

The cowboy stared at him.

"You've got to be kiddin', right?"

Beast Boy shrugged and shimmied his way deeper into the dancing, writhing mass of people.

Bard looked around for a bar to sit at, but he didn't find one. He did, however, see his half sister sitting in a dark corner. Despite the loud, booming music, she seemed totally relaxed. Superboy, to no shock to Bard, was leaning against a wall, talking smoothly to no less than four teenage girls. He hadn't seen Starfire anywhere…

"I perceive, friend Bard, that you feel as out of place here as I."

Bard started and whirled around. No wonder he hadn't seen Starfire! She had been right behind him the whole time.

"I _am_ the only guy in here wearing a cowboy hat." He agreed, but then he added: "The only _straight_ guy with a cowboy hat, that is."

Starfire's head cocked cutely to the side in puzzlement.

"I am afraid I do not understand…"

"Never mind," Bard smiled at her. "Let's take a step out."

Bard felt much better when they were outside and away from the loud music and crazy lights. They were starting to give him a headache. He glanced over at Starfire. Her body and shoulders seemed a lot more relaxed than they had inside. He figured he wasn't the only one who felt better now that they were out. He took out a cigarette and lit it up.

"Tell me, Bard." Starfire asked him. "Why do you inhale from those cylindrical objects?"

"It's a bad habit, I reckon."

Surprisingly, the Tamaranian didn't question him further and a comfortable silence fell between them. Bard was content with his cigarette and Starfire was looking up at the stars.

"I miss it sometimes." She said.

"Miss what?"

"My home world," she answered simply.

"Ah," Bard said delicately. He wasn't sure how to comfort an homesick alien.

"Do not misunderstand," Starfire told him quickly. "I love Earth as a second home. It is beautiful, and the diverse cultures and peoples here are most fascinating. However, oftentimes I miss the place where I took my first steps, and when I first found the joy of flight…"

"Will you…ever go back?"

"There will be a time when I am called home." Starfire almost whispered. "But I do not know if I could go. You and the other Titans are my family, and I don't know if I could ever leave you."

Bard had mixed feelings about that. He was eternally glad that Starfire considered him, along with the rest of the Titans of course, as a family member. But on the other side of the coin, he had already lost the two people who were the closest to him…could he survive with losing another?

"I hope you never have to." Bard answered solemnly.

"Well!" She said, clapping her hands together and breaking the somber mood with nothing but a smile. "I must go back in. Robin told me who would teach me how to dance!"

"Have fun," Bard called after her and, now left alone, turned his attention back to his half smoked cigarette.

"Are you holy?"

Bard nearly jumped out of his skin. People sure were sneaking up on him a lot lately…He glanced over and saw that a purple robed girl was standing beside him. The hood of the robe was down, revealing her long black hair, violet eyes and two, dark purple charkas on her forehead.

"What?" He asked.

"Do you consider yourself holy?" She repeated. Her gaze was very direct.

Bard hesitated. Her sudden appearance and strange question had thrown him off balance.

"No," he finally answered. "I'm just a man like everyone else, I reckon."

"Ah, you are modest." The girl told him approvingly. "That, even more than your good deeds and unwavering faith speak most loudly of your righteousness."

"Who are you?"

"My original name is unimportant. The name given to me is Zillah."

Bard blinked. That name sounded awfully familiar to him for some reason…

"Who gave you that name?"

**BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!**

The stylized beat emitted from his new communicator. Bard took it out of his coat pocket and opened it up. He was met on the small screen by the grizzled face of Commissioner Walker.

"_Titans! Get your crazy asses down here!" _He bellowed.

"_What's the problem, Commissioner?" _Robin's voice responded over the line.

"_These frickin' young punks are street racing through my city! That's what's up! They got these supped up cars that our piece of shit cars can't even think about gettin' close to!"_

"_We'll get right on it, Robin out."_

"…_Um, don't you want to knew where we are?"_

Robin sweat dropped.

"_Uh, yes. What's you locale?"_

"_The business district. On Wallace Boulevard." _Comissioner Walker answered. _"Brainless half pints…" _He muttered to himself.

"_Ahem, Robin out."_

When the cowboy looked up, the girl, Zillah, was gone…He blinked, but then he simply shrugged it off.

Bard was already on his Harley when the rest of Titans filed out of the dance club.

"Aw, man!" Beast Boy was complaining loudly when he walked out. "Why does this always happen to me? I didn't even get a chance to do the worm and this bootilicious blonde was _so _checking me-" He stopped when he saw Bard. "Dude, do you wanna get away from this place _that_ bad?"

Bard shrugged.

"The city need us," he said piteously, but then he paused. "…'Bootilicious?'" He asked the changeling.

"Well-"

"All right, Titans: Move out!" Robin ordered, leaping onto his R-Cycle.

Raven and Cyborg piled into the T-Car and Superboy, Starfire and Beast Boy took to the air even as Bard, Cyborg and Robin fired up their respective vehicles. The combined revving engines were actually quite impressive.

Ten minutes later, the Titans had arrived in the business district of the city where Commissioner Walker was fuming and cussing up a storm beside a barricade of patrol cars.

"What the hell do you think you're doin'!" He almost screamed at a poor sergeant, his face beet red.

"W-We're putting up a blockade, sir."

"And what a fine blockade it is," Walker said sarcastically, then he went right back onto the attack. "Are you stupid, numbnuts? You think one blockade in the whole God damn city is gonna make a difference to our two hot rodders? Jesus Christ! Why must I be surrounded by stupid dumbshits?"

"Commissioner Walker," Robin called over to him.

"Hmph, you're here. Good. If we had to depend on these dumb asses to bring'em in…"

"Where are they?"

"Last report said they're on Waterring Parkway, 'bout four blocks that-a-way."

Robin nodded and turned to the others.

"Starfire, you, Superboy and Beast Boy scope out the outer limits of the business district from the air. If those two joy riders get into another part of the city, I want to be the first to know!"

"Right!" The Tammaranian agreed.

"I'll go, too." Raven muttered as she got out of the T-Car. "I have a feeling that this is one ride I want to pass on."

When all the flying Titans were gone, Robin looked over at Cyborg in the T-Car and Bard on his Harley.

"Is the T-Car at one hundred percent?" He asked Cyborg.

"Yep! She ready to go!"

Next, Robin looked over at Bard.

"I hope you know how to ride that thing."

A revving of the motor was the only answer Robin received. The Boy Wonder grinned boyishly.

"Titans, Go!"

**VRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!**

The tires of the three vehicles squealed deafeningly loud and poured out smoke until they finally got traction and the three superheroes sped off into the night.

"_I got'em on the radar." _Cyborg announced. _"They're just around the next corner."_

Bard nearly wrecked his Harley. Cyborg's voice had come directly from the smack dab middle of his handle bars.

"_What did you do to my bike, Cy?"_ Bard wasn't quite sure it worked both ways, but he assumed it did.

"_Just a few slight modifications."_ Bard could actually hear the grin in the robot's voice.

"_A few?"_ Bard repeated._ "Are you saying you put more than this communication thing in it?_

"_Yup,"_

"_What did you put in my bike?"_

"_I wouldn't wanna spoil it for ya, dawg. You'll see."_

Bard muttered under his breath about that.

"_I got visual contact." _Robin told them. "_One black with white thunder designs and the other's red with a white racing stripe."_

"_I see'em." _Bard replied.

"_Whoa, those are some __**nice**__ cars!" _Cyborg exclaimed. _"A 1963 Chevy Corvette and a 1956 Ford Thunderbird! Those are classics!"_

"_You can admire them later."_ Robin said to him firmly. _"Right now, we have to stop them. Titans, go!"_

"_Man, I hope we don't have to tear'em up…" _Cyborg hoped as all three of the heroes kicked their vehicles into the next gear.

Mike sat in his leather upholstered seat behind the wheel of his Corvette, grinning from ear to ear. He flicked his spiky blonde hair out of his eyes and looked over at the black, thunder studded Thunderbird.

"Ford:" He yelled out of his open window towards his opponent. "**F**ix **O**r **R**epair **D**aily!"

"Whoa!" Tony called back. "Did you think that up all by yourself?"

Tony was your typical bad to the bone type. Slicked back black hair, jeans, white t-shirt and a black leather jacket. Ignoring the fact that it was nighttime, he also had a pair of black shades on over his eyes. Mike, on the other hand, was the jock, the captain of the football team all the way down to his high school ring and letterman jacket. Needless to say, the two hated each other.

**VROOOOOOOM-SHRICK!**

"What the hell?" Tony looked in his rearview mirror. Some punk in a cowboy hat had thrown his Harley into a wheelie and had smashed its front tire down on his trunk. The cowboy dismounted the bike from his car, wobbled a bit when he hit the pavement again and continued to tail him.

"We got the Titans on us, Tony!" Mike called over to him.

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock!"

"All right, Tony, new rules!" Mike called back. "Whoever loses the Titans has the baddest car in the land, deal?"

"Deal! You're on, muscle head!"

"I'm gonna spike your greasy haired ass like a football!"

Bard, along with Cyborg in the T-Car and Robin on his R-Cycle, was tailing the two roadsters on his Harley. The newest Titan prepared to smash his wheel into the back of the nearest car again when both of them poured flames out of their dual tail pipes and rocketed forward.

"_They just hit the nitro!" _Cyborg announced.

"_Titans, hit the boosters! We can't let them get away!"_

"_Boosters?" _Bard asked with a blink. _"I don't have any boosters!"_

"_Sure you do! I put'em in myself!" _Cyborg informed him. _"Hit the red button!"_

"_I heard somewhere that you'll __**never**__ supposed to hit the red button!"_

"_Bard, just do it!"_

Bard shrugged, searched the panel on his handle bars and found the red button. He pushed it.

**CLICK!**

…Nothing happened.

"_Cy!"_ Bard said. _"I don't think you hooked up my boosters righ-"_

_**VRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!**_

Bard and his Harley leapt forward so fast that they looked like a blur. He rode a wheelie for a full block before he was finally able to put the front wheel back on the road. He looked to the side where the building were literally blurring and zipping by. He was really _rollin'!_

"_Bard, look out!"_

Bard jerked his eyes back to the road just in time to see a big tow truck lowering its back right in front of him.

"Aw, shi-"


	32. King of The Road

"_You have got to be the worst role model I have ever met." - Robin_

_**CHAPTER THIRTY TWO**_

_**KING OF THE ROAD**_

"Aw, Shi-Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"

Bard and his Harley hit the lowered back of the tow truck like Evil Kineval on a ramp and were immediately airborne, flipping wildly backwards, totally out of control. The cowboy simply tensed his eyes closed and gritted his teeth. His superhero career was going to end on his very first official day on the job…Miraculously, the vehicle somehow hit tires first. Bard hit the brakes hard and yanked the bike to the side as hard as he could. He skidded to a stop and took several moments to find his stomach, regain his breath and convince himself he really wasn't dead. After a while, he realized he was still moving. He jerked up his head and realized he had somehow landed on top of a huge eighteen wheeler truck.

"_Bard, are you all right?"_

"_Am I all right?" _Bard mimicked incredulously. _"Am I all right? I just hit a ramp going a hundred miles an hour, flipped through the air twenty feet over the concrete and landed on a truck! A frickin' __**truck!**__"_

"_Two hundred," _Cyborg corrected meticulously.

"_What?"_

"_You were going closer to two hundred mile per hour."_

Bard blinked.

"_Tell me, Cy: How in the world could that __**possibly**__ make a single bit of difference?"_

"_Well, the physics of-"_

"_Hey, guys!" _It was Robin. _"Are you gonna talk all night amongst yourselves or are you gonna help me bring these two racers in before they hurt someone?"_

Bard grunted. He knew an reprimand when he heard one. He quickly looked around the sides of the truck he was on. Somehow, he had pulled ahead of the hot rodders with his crazy jump. The two classic cars were coming up on either side of the eighteen wheeler. Much to the chagrin of the driver no doubt, the cowboy revved his engine and drove right off the front of the truck back onto the road…just as the two speeders pulled up on both sides of him.

This was _not_ good…

"Yo, Mike!" Tony called over. "You thinkin' what I'm thinkin', man?"

"It would totally rule if Ricky Williams wasn't retiring from the NFL this year?"

"No, you blockhead! Let's make a Titan sandwich!"

"Yeah!" Mike agreed, finally understanding. "A _rodeo_ club sandwich."

Even in the midst of his mortal danger, Bard shook his head.

"_That has got to be the worst pun I have ever heard."_

"_Heh, rookie." _Robin and Cyborg said at almost the same time.

"Squash him!"

The two speeding cars came together and Bard slammed on the breaks so hard his back tire came up off the pavement.

**CRASH! SKRIIIIICH!**

The two cars smashed into each other and Bard grinned from where he sat on his stopped bike in the middle of the street. _This_ cowboy wasn't a sandwich today!

"_Bard, those cars are classics and you're tearing'em up!" _Cyborg complained.

"_Hey, it wasn't my fault! They were the ones that-"_

**HONK! HONK!**

Bard looked behind him and a pair of bright headlights reflected off of his glasses. He had forgotten about the truck!

**VRRRROOOOOM!**

Bard threw his Harley into high gear and tore off as fast as the vehicle would go back down the road. His front wheel came off the ground in a high wheelie, and his back tire came within inches of the truck's fender before he finally pulled away from it. He was suddenly angry. Those two brainless punks had got him _this close _to being killed! Humming under his breath, he drove his bike with one hand and flung a fireball with the other. But just as he released the flame, his front tire hit a pothole and his aim went wary.

**BOOM!**

The fireball exploded right in front of the black Thunderbird. The thunder studded hot rod swerved so hard that it went up on two tires and somehow went by the fire unscathed.

Bard blinked…several times.

"_Okay…cars just don't do that!"_

"_Hyaaaaaaaa!"_

Bard jerked his eyes up. His glorious leader, the Boy Wonder, had somehow gotten his R-Cycle up on to the roofs and had been trailing the two cars while jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

Robin was damn showoff…

He drove the R-Cycle off of his roof and flew through the air towards the two cars. Bard stared. The crazy fool was going to kill himself! But fifty feet above the ground, Robin leapt off of his motorcycle and shot out a grappling hook. Bard stared in horror. That was almost worst than killing himself…he was going to totally destroy the R-Cycle!

But right before the vehicle smashed into the pavement, bright blue rocket thrusters emerged from the bike, slowed its descent and put it gently on the ground.

"_Okay, Cy." _He said then. _"I want those on __**my**__ bike."_

Robin arced through the air via his grappling hook and, at the peak of his height he let go…just in time to land right on the hood of the red Corvette in a crouch.

"_Pull over!" _It seemed as if Robin's communication device was in his motorcycle helmet. _"I'm afraid I have to write you a ticket for your cracked windshield!"_

Mike blinked.

"But I don't have a cracked-"

**WHAM!**

Robin drove a gloved fist into the windshield and, sure enough, left it cracked.

"That's right!" Tony cheered from his car. "Get'em Robin! My Thunderbird will be the baddest car in the city!"

Tony suddenly slammed on the brakes. The T-Car was parked right in front of him. But that wasn't the problem. No, the problem was the giant, charging sonic cannon that emerged from its roof and was pointing right at him.

At almost the same time in the other lane, Robin leapt onto the trunk of the Corvette. Then he front flipped off of it, twisted in midair and flung half a dozen birdarangs at its back tires and landed on the back of Bard's Harley, who had been trailing along behind. The Corvette skidded out of control and slid to a stop.

"_Robin,"_ Bard threw over his shoulder after he had brought the bike to a stop. _"You're a damn showoff, you know that, right?"_

"Yup," Robin replied with a boyish grin as he took off his helmet. "But it got the job done, didn't it?" He paused. "And don't cuss in public."

"Sorry," Bard muttered. He walked over to the Corvette and looked into the driver's side window. "Are you all right?"

"Uh…" Mike groaned. "I-I think so…"

"Good," Bard clipped. He reached into the car, grabbed the jock by the front of his letterman jacket and jerked him bodily out of the window. Then he shoved him hard back first against his car, got into his face and squinted his eyes dangerously from behind his glasses.

"W-what man?"

"You came _this close _to gettin' me killed." He half snarled/half whispered through clenched teeth.

"Bard!" Robin said sharply. "We don't do things that way!"

Bard glanced sidelong at Robin for a moment and then brought his steely gaze back to the jock. Finally, the cowboy released him roughly and walked away, muttering angrily to himself. After Robin had handcuffed the two miscreants and handed them to Cyborg, he walked over to their newest Titan.

"Why did you do that?" He wanted to know.

"'Cause he tried to _kill_ me." Bard said in a painfully obvious tone. "If I wasn't a God loving man I'd've done worse than that."

"Bard, you're a superhero, remember?." Robin told him. "If you can't deal with people trying to kill you, you went into the wrong business."

"That's not the problem." Bard almost snapped at his leader. "I can understand people trying to kill me for power, or for vengeance or for their beliefs or some such, but those two guys were trying to kill me simply because it was a part of game. A stupid _game!"_

"They're just kids, Bard. They're supposed to do stupid things."

"We're just kids, too, ya know."

Silence…

"This job is hard sometimes." Robin admitted quietly. "We always associate with the worst that society has to offer, and sometimes we forget about all the good and honest people we're protecting."

"What good and honest people? The last good and honest _normal_ person I met was Tim, and he's in a rubber room at the moment gibbering about people's blood! We did a hell of a job protecting him, didn't we?"

Bard hadn't really meant to make such an emotional outburst and let that out, but the cat was out of the bag now and there was nothing he could do about it. He stomped away, straddled his Harley and tore off into the night.

Cyborg stepped towards the T-Car to follow, but Robin stopped him.

"He just needs to be alone." The Boy Wonder decided. "Sometimes we forget how hard this job really is. He just needs some time to adjust."

"Yo, Robin!" An arrogant, grizzled voice called out. "You caught two pups, but can you catch the big dog of the road?"

"Oh, no…" Cyborg groaned, bringing a palm up to the human part of his forehead.

"…Johnny." Robin grated in a tone that conveyed something very much like hatred.

Bard had no destination in mind as he zipped through the brightly lit city night. He simply wanted to be anywhere that wasn't here.

Honestly, he wasn't sure if he was really cut out for this job or not. His decision to be a superhero had been a fairly spontaneous thing. When he had found that he possessed…powers, he figured God would have wanted him to help people. And what better way to help people than to join the Teen Titans?

But he had thought that he would be fighting insane super villains and power hungry mob bosses that he read about in the papers and saw on the news everyday, not stupid, mindless punks that were brainwashed by…MTV television or something. And to be brutally honest about it, he was afraid for himself. He had once told Starfire that he had joined up with the Teen Titans because he figured he should protect people until he died. Bard was absolutely sure what awaited him after death, but life was still sweet and he cherished it. There was still so many things he wanted to do. He didn't want to go anywhere anytime soon.

And what about his teammates? How would he handle it if it were Robin being squashed between two cars instead of him? Or the loss of _any_ of his teammates. They had all become a family to him. Especially…Bard didn't want to think about that. It had already come too close to happening once.

The cowboy had once written in his journal how much respect he had for the Titans on how they faced death everyday and still came home with smiles on their faces. He wasn't sure if he had that kind of self-discipline.

And to top it all off, the loss of his best and oldest friend hadn't helped matters any…

"_Titans!" _Bard heard Robin bark through his bike's communicator. "_We took down the two racers, but Johnny's loose in the city! We have to put him down now!"_

Bard pulled his Harley to a stop and stared incredulously at the speaker Cyborg had put in it.

Had Robin just called him by his real name? And what was this 'put him down' business? Did his leader really thing he was a threat? He had been fairly angry when he left, sure, but not _that_ angry. Bard whipped out his communicator and opened it up. Good thing it doubled as a tracking device.

He had to find Robin and set things straight.

**VRRRRRROOOOOOOMMMMM!**

"C'mon little birdie!" Rancid taunted. "Are you gonna catch me or breathe in my bike's fumes all day? I doubt that's health fer ya!"

Robin growled and kicked the R-Cycle into a higher gear. Rancid always seemed to know what to say to get under the Boy Wonder's skin. Cyborg was following right after them from behind in the T-Car.

"You ain't nothing but a lil' kid on a tricycle! Follow me if you can, Bird Boy!"

Johnny Rancid turned his motorcycle at a sharp, ninety degree angle and rocketed down a narrow alleyway. Robin grit his teeth in determination and fired a grappling hook around a street lamp. He bunny hopped his bike into the air just as the line grew taut, and he arced with blurring speed down the alleyway after the highway junkie.

"Ugh!" Cyborg smacked the steering wheel of the T-Car in frustration. His baby was simply to big to fit down the alleyway. Robin was on his own.

Meanwhile, Robin and Rancid were zooming down the garbage strewn alleyway.

"Check it out, Pecker!" Johnny called over his shoulder. "Looks like we're coming to an intersection! You got the guts to keep up with the King of the Road?"

Rancid hit the intersection first. He crossed it into the next alleyway, just barely missing a collision with a pickup truck. Robin didn't slow down at all. He couldn't let Johnny get away! But at the last second, he reluctantly hit the brakes and skidded sideways to a stop.

It had been the smart thing to do, he knew. The reason he had gotten hurt last time chasing Rancid was because he had been reckless. But that didn't mean he had to like it…

**CLANG!**

The Boy Wonder karate kicked an offending metal trash can in frustration.

"Stop right there, slick.." Bard sat on his Harley, which was sitting longwise in the alley and blocking off the biker's escape route. He pointed his laser pistol with one hand over his other outstretched arm to steady his aim.

Rancid pulled his bike to a stop before him and looked at the cowboy contemptuously.

"Who are you supposed to be, Quickdraw?" The biker guffawed loudly.

"Try 'Bard'." He replied flatly. "And as long as we're making introductions, what's you name, sweetheart?" The cowboy figured it wouldn't hurt to get under this guy's skin a little bit. Then again, the last time he had thought that…

"Rancid," the villain answered with an arrogant sneer. "Johnny Rancid. And I ain't nobody's sweetheart. I'm the King of the Road!"

Bard nodded. That certainly explained a few things.

"All right, Mr. 'King of the Road'. Would you kindly get off your bike and put your hands up so I can arrest you?" Bard waved his laser pistol suggestively at him.

"Heh, you wish, punk!" Rancid revved his engine and, as Bard watched in awe, actually drove up the brick _wall _of the alley and around him to land back down on the other side of the cowboy to continue along the route.

Bard blinked…several times. Maybe this guy _was_ the King of the Road. But nevertheless, Bard was going to take a shot at that title. He hit the gas, spun around and zoomed off after the bad guy.

"Heh, look at that!" Rancid yelled out enthusiastically. "We're coming up on an intersection! I wonder if you've got more guts than Birdie Boy?"

The bad biker slid sideways into the intersection and went flying along the main road unscathed. Bard came through next, but he wasn't quite as lucky. Halfway into the intersection, a car hit the back wheel of Bard's Harley hard. The cowboy was spun around on his front wheel onto the sidewalk, sending pedestrians scurrying. But somehow he ended up pointed in the right direction and he continued to chase after Rancid.

"Looks like the cowboy has some skills!" Rancid admitted. "But you can't catch the King of the Road!"

"_Maybe not, but I can!"_

"Wha?"

**WHAM!**

Robin came out of absolutely nowhere and smashed the R-Cycle hard against Johnny Rancid's bike. Rancid wobbled for a second, but then he righted himself.

"So you came back for round two, huh Birdie? Don't know why you bothered, since it's gonna end the same as the last one!" Rancid kicked his bike into a higher gear and shot ahead of the two Titans…right for the main bridge.

"_Bard, stand down!"_

"_What?"_

"_You heard me! I want you to stop chasing Rancid. I'll handle him. You back off!"_

"_But you might need my help!" _Bard insisted.

"_No, Rancid's planning a stunt on the bridge. It's too dangerous!"_

"_Hey, I'm just as good on a bike as you. And more important than that, I'm a Titan! I'm gonna help bring him down!"_

Before Robin could protest again, Bard pointed his laser pistol.

**ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!**

Red laser fire erupted around Rancid, but at this high speed, it was almost impossible for the cowboy to get off a good, clean shot.

"Ha! You call that dinky thing a laser?" Rancid sneered. "_This_ is a laser!"

A similar laser pistol appeared in the biker's hand. There was a flash of dark yellow and Bard swerved his Harley over to the side just in the nick of time. A huge crater was formed in the concrete road where he had just been a moment before. Bard sweat dropped. Rancid's laser had a lot more bang for the buck than his.

By then the three of them had reached the bridge and it was time for Rancid to make his move. Reminiscent of his last encounter with the Boy Wonder, the biker used the back of a small foreign car as a ramp and catapulted himself up on the giant rope that was comprised of hundreds of elevator-like wire cords.

"_Bard, stop your bike and get ready!" _Robin ordered even as he threw the gas to the R-Cycle and followed the villain upwards. _"When Rancid makes his jump, take him out with you laser pistol."_

"_Ten-four!"_

Johnny Rancid was planning on losing Robin the same way he had last time. But this time, it was different; this time, Robin had backup. As soon as Rancid hit his jump a hundred feet over the road part of the bridge, Robin slammed on the brakes.

"_Bard, now!"_

Bard took careful aim with his laser pistol at the big metal gas tank just behind Rancid's heel and...

**ZAP!…BOOM!**

Rancid's bike exploded into a fiery ball of flame and the biker himself came shooting down towards the hard, unforgiving pavement. Bard barely had time to start humming his wind song before the villain smashed into the roof of a minivan. The brief wind hadn't saved him from his fall, but it might have very well been just enough to save his life.

"Sorry, Johnny." Robin said as he walked up. "But it looks like us 'dumb kids' caught you again." The young Caped Crusader paused. "I sound like I'm in a Scooby Doo episode." He muttered to himself.

"Ugh…" Was Rancid's only response before he blacked out.

As soon as Robin had the unconscious biker in handcuffs, Bard grinned and started snapping his fingers and dancing a little jig and sung:

_Trailers for sale or rent  
Rooms to let, fifty cents  
No phone, no pool, no pets  
I ain't got no cigarettes  
Ah, but, two hours of pushin' broom  
Buys an eight by twelve four-bit room  
I'm a man of means by no means  
King of the Road._

"…." Robin stared.

"Sorry," Bard shrugged, a little embarrassed as he lit up a much needed cigarette. "It seemed appropriate."

Robin looked disapprovingly at his cigarette.

"I thought I said you couldn't smoke those in public."

"Don't worry, I'm about to get on my Harley now." Bard assured him. "No one will be able to see it. Are you gonna take care of Rancid from here?"

"Yeah," Robin answered. "Now get out of here before someone sees you-" The Boy Wonder's broke off his sentence as an elderly, black woman in a police uniform scurried up to Bard.

"I've been'a tryin' ta pull ya ova fer the last four blocks, son!" She said like a scolding mother. "Why didn't'ya pull ova?"

Bard blinked.

"I, er, didn't see you. I was kinda in the middle of chasing down a-"

"I be knowin' whatchya was doin'!" She cut him off. "That's be why I ain't gonna write ya a ticket for speedin'! But I am gonna write ya a ticket for ridin' without a helmet! That's just downright dangerous, son!"

Bard's face was hilariously shocked as the police officer proceeded to right him a ticket, citing a hundred dollar fine.

Robin couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head in disbelief.

"You have got to be the worst role model I have ever met."

Bard gave him a sour look, straddled his Harley, still without a helmet and rocketed away toward Titans Tower.

Meanwhile, the purple robed figure of Zillah watched everything from a nearby rooftop. This Bard man was indeed a righteous person, and his faith gave him incredible power…Not to mention he was handsome. The young girl smiled to herself. She had found the one she had been looking for…


	33. Holiness and Blood

"_Don't you __**ever**__ touch a cowboy's radio!" - Bard_

_**CHAPTER THIRTY THREE**_

_**HOLINESS AND BLOOD**_

Upon arriving back to Titans Tower and entering his room, Bard immediately climbed into bed and was asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. It had been a tiring night.

"Awake, Holy Bard."

The cowboy muttered something intelligible in his sleep and shifted underneath his blankets. He had no idea what time it was, but he did know that the sun hadn't come up yet.

"Holy Bard, I ask you to awake."

Bard would have simply rolled over and went back to sleep had he not realized that the voice that spoke to him did not belong to any of the Teen Titans. Suddenly, he realized that someone was in his room! He sat up like a shot and quickly threw on his glasses.

"Ease your troubled mind, Holy One." The purple robed girl, Zillah, bowed in apology to him. "Though my appearance before you in this place may seem suspicious, be assured that I bear you no ill will."

"Zillah?" Bard asked, and once again he felt as if he had heard that name from somewhere before… "How did you get in here?"

"I possess…powers, even as do you and your fellow Titans possess." Zillah answered. "But my cause is just, and even all the minions of Hell could not have kept me from you. As of such, do you think the technology mankind has put its faith in would trouble me at all?"

"I reckon not…" Bard answered slowly. "But why all the interest in me?"

"Because your name is written large in the bright stars of the purple parchment above." Zillah told him simply.

Bard blinked.

"…What?"

"You are the destined one." The black haired mystic explained to him. "My master has witnessed the future and has foreseen your momentous task."

"What kind of 'task'?" Bard wanted to know.

"A task of love." She replied sweetly. "From your loins shall come the child-"

"Wh-wh-whoa," Bard interrupted her. "From my _what_?"

The girl studied him for a moment with steady, sympathetic violet eyes.

"I see that you were not adequately prepared for my truths, and that you are hesitant to accept them. Know, however, that we are patient. When you are ready to listen, I shall return." She turned away, but then looked over her shoulder at him. "Hope emanates from your soul, Holy Bard, and my unworthy heart is brightened by its light."

Something attracted Bard's attention for the briefest of seconds, and when he looked back, the girl was gone.

**KNOCK! KNOCK!**

Bard groaned and rolled out of bed. His eyes were sandy and his long hair was everywhere. The cowboy had had a troubled sleep. He more or less sleep walked to the door and hit the button on the control panel to slide it open.

"Good mornin'…Robin." He squinted at the Boy Wonder without his glasses.

"Good morning." Robin looked at him a bit closer. "Didn't sleep well last night?" He guessed.

Bard hesitated.

"Uh, I reckon you could say that." He stepped to the side. "C'mon in."

Robin stepped into the cowboy's bedroom and looked around.

"You haven't changed it much." He noted. "Except for your guitar in the corner, of course."

"Cyborg said almost the exact same thing." Bard chuckled slightly as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, but then he stopped. "Can I ask a question?"

"Of course,"

"Why is this room so…significant to everyone?"

Robin looked up thoughtfully at the ceiling for a moment and silence fell between them.

"That's…not a question for me to answer." He replied, his voice sounding uncharacteristically weak.

There was an awkward pause…

"So," Bard said, trying to break the sudden ice. "What did you need to see me for?"

"A couple of things." Robin answered, and his customary vitality and confidence was back in his voice. "First off, I need you to have a costume."

"A costume?" Bard repeated. "No offense, Robin, but I am _not_ wearing spandex!"

The Boy Wonder smiled at that.

"You're costume can be made out of anything you want." He assured him. "You just need a regular outfit so people will be able to recognize you as a Titan."

"That makes sense, I reckon."

"I'll give you some money to put it together."

"You're actually giving up money?" Bard burst out. He hadn't meant to say that, but his sleep covered mind hadn't had time to warn his mouth soon enough.

"I'm not _that_ tight with money." Robin smiled. "But if it'll make you feel better, you _could_ just consider it a loan…" He suggested.

Bard sweat dropped.

"And take your glasses down to Cyborg's room and get him to make you a new pair." Robin continued. "Raven told me about your eyesight. The glasses you have now will probably come off too easily in a serious battle."

Bard's glasses _had_ indeed already come off in his first battle against Tim, but the Boy Wonder had no way of knowing that.

"Anything else?" The cowboy asked, mentally ticking off those two errands.

"Yeah," Robin grinned as he headed for the door. "Buy a motorcycle helmet!"

Not too long later, Bard muttered under his breath about the Boy Wonder's last line as he headed up to the roof for his routine morning smoke. There was someone already up there, but it wasn't whom he was expecting.

"Good mornin', Sunshine." Bard greeted him with feigned cheer.

"Don't _ever_ call me 'Sunshine' again." Superboy threatened him sourly, crossing his leather jacketed arms across the stylized Superman emblem on his chest.

Bard just laughed and lit up a cigarette.

"Those things _are_ bad for you, ya know." The Boy of Steel informed him.

The cowboy's eyes widened in mock horror.

"They are!" He gasped. "I've been smoking for all these years and no one ever told me that! You just saved my life!"

"And I thought Beast Boy was supposed to be the annoying one." Superboy muttered.

Bard grinned and took a long drag from his cigarette. He was feeling a lot better now.

"So," He asked, absently flicking ashes off the roof. "Are you planning on doing anything today?"

Superboy's eyes narrowed.

"Are you trying to ask me out?"

Bard glared.

"You know, you come up here calling me 'Sunshine', and then you're asking me if I'm busy and…"

"I _was_ going to ask you to help me put together a costume."

Superboy looked surprised.

"Really?" He asked.

"Well, I was before you went and questioned my sexuality…"

"All right, I'll help."

"I don't want you to help now that you've insulted me and all." Bard said around his cigarette with a humored lilt to his voice.

Superboy gave him an exasperated look.

"Do you want my help or not?" He demanded.

"Fine," Bard gave in, maneuvering his cigarette to the other side of his mouth. "If it means _that _much to you…"

Superboy walked off briskly towards the elevator, muttering to himself.

"Hey, while you're down there, see if you can find someone with some fashion sense to go with us!" The cowboy called after him with a grin.

Bard: 1 Superboy: 0

"Beast Boy?" Bard asked Superboy incredulously down in the garage.

"Yeah, he said he wanted to go."

"_Beast Boy?_" Bard repeated again.

"What wrong with him coming along with us? I thought you liked him."

"I do," Bard answered. "But…hang it all! He wears black and purple spandex!"

"I don't know," Superboy shrugged. "It kinda suits him."

"Are you trying to be funny? I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a fashion designer by any means of the imagination, but I _do_ know that purple, black and green doesn't match!"

"Hey, he doesn't wear green, that's just his skin color."

"Well, regardless, it's part of the ensemble, ain't it?"

"It-"

"What's up, guys?" Beast Boy walked in.

"Sup?"

"Howdy,"

"So, Bard, you ready for me to make you the best dressed superhero on the planet?" The changeling asked him, striking a pose for some strange reason only known to him.

Bard sweat dropped.

"Er…I reckon…" He went to sit on his Harley, but then he stopped. "We're gonna have to take the T-Car." He decided.

"What for?" Superboy wanted to know. "You can ride your bike and me and Beast Boy can fly."

"On the way there, maybe." Bard only half agreed. "But if all goes well, we'll be bringing some stuff back. Would _you_ like to carry it?"

"All right," The Boy of Steel conceded. "But _I'm_ driving!"

Bard laughed incredulously.

"There ain't no way, Slick!" He told him. "_I'm_ drivin'!"

"Hey! Are you trying to say I can't drive? I'm a great driver, I'll have you know!"

"I don't care if you're the ghost of the great Dale Earnhardt himself! I ain't letting you drive!"

"…Maybe I should drive." Beast Boy suggested mildly.

Both Bard and Superboy swiveled their heads around to stare at the green changeling.

"Uh…" Beast Boy sweat dropped and laughed nervously. "It was only a suggestion…" He simpered.

Bard turned back to Superboy.

"Do you have a driver's license?" He demanded.

"Well…"

"That settles it, then." Bard told them. "If you drive without a license, you're breaking the law. And since we're all a part of the Teen Titans and know that superheroes don't break the law, _I'm drivin'!"_

"You broke the law," Superboy commented calmly to him.

Bard head jerked towards him.

"What?"

"Last night,"

Bard frowned.

"I didn't break the law last night, I was just chasing down Rancid and-" He stopped when he saw Superboy pointing at his head. Of course! He was caught riding without a helmet! But how had Superboy found out about that? Bard opened his mouth to speak several times, but nothing came out. Finally:

"Just get in the damn car." He ordered them. Then, muttering to himself, he sat down in the driver's seat of the T-Car, slammed the door, started up the engine and tore out from Titans Tower.

Bard: 1 Superboy: 1

Once out of the garage, Bard drove with one hand on the steering wheel and the other fumbling around on the dash.

"Where's the radio in this thing?" The cowboy muttered to himself.

"The button to the left, dude." Beast Boy supplied helpfully. Bard hit the foresaid button and:

_#It's gettin' hot in herr so take off all your clothes_

_It's gettin' so hot in herr I wanna take my clothes off!#_

Bard stared dumbly at the speakers.

"What…in the…. blue hell….is that?"

"That's Nelly, man!" Superboy told him. "You ought to like'em. He's from the 'dirty dirty south', just like you."

"I'm honored," Bard muttered sarcastically. But then his brow furrowed. "How did you know I was from the south?" He demanded of the Boy of Steel.

"I dunno," Superboy shrugged. "Lucky guess?"

"You do look like a southerner, dude." Beast Boy defended him. "Ya know, with the hat and boots and stuff…"

Bard let the matter drop and changed the radio station.

_#Put me on a mountain, way back in the back woods_

_Put me on a lake with a big'un on the line#_

"Yes!" Bard exulted as the steady picking of a guitar and a gravelly, no nonsense voice came out of the speakers. "I love this song!"

"Argh! I hate country!" Superboy moaned, leaning his head over onto the window lifelessly.

"Too bad, slick."

"I'm gonna pop you right between the eyes if you call me 'slick' one more time." Superboy threatened him crossly. "I owe you a good punch anyway."

"Whatever you say…yankee." Bard grinned.

Superboy started muttering to himself.

Bard: 2 Superboy: 1

_#And I'll pray to God any place any time_

_And you can bet I'll pick up the phone if Uncle Sam calls me up #_

"C'mon, Bard!" Superboy cajoled. "Turn the station!"

"To what, rap?" Bard guessed. "There ain't no way!"

"What's wrong with rap?"

"Number one, is ain't even music!" Bard replied almost automatically. "It's just people talking to a beat. Number two, it had no meaning. All they do is talk about hoes and bling and their 'pimped out wheels'. And last but not least, all that cussing gets on my nerves. Not to mention that half the songs degrade women and-"

"All right, man." Superboy stopped him, rubbing his forehead. "We get the picture! Sheesh, do you practice that speech or somethin?"

Bard actually blushed a bit. He hadn't meant to go on a tirade like that.

_#You ain't gonna be my judge 'cause my judge will judge us all one day…._

_You do you thing, I'll do mine…#_

"Dude," Beast Boy said to Bard as the song ended. "Did you _write_ that song?"

Bard blinked.

"What do you mean?"

"That song describes you to a T, man!"

"Really?" Bard grinned a little foolishly. "Thanks,"

Superboy reached over and turned the radio off.

"Hey!" Bard protested. "Don't you _ever_ touch a cowboy's radio!"

"I thought it was 'a_ black man's_ radio'."

"All right," Bard shrugged. "Me _and_ Cy will beat you up then."

Beast Boy erupted into high pitched, hysterical laughter in the backseat.

"Pssh! I turned it down so I could ask you a question."

"All right, shoot."

"Why do you ride your bike everywhere when you could fly?" Superboy asked him.

Bard glanced sidelong at him.

"None of your business," he said shortly.

"C'mon, dude!" Beast Boy joined in. "I wanna know, too!"

Bard muttered something so quietly and quickly under his breath that Beast Boy and Superboy couldn't catch it.

"What?"

"I said…" Bard paused and took a breath. "I said I'm…afraid of heights."

Superboy immediately burst out laughing.

"You're afraid of heights?" He asked incredulously.

"Well, technically. What I'm actually afraid of is the falling and dying part of the whole business."

Superboy started laughing again, but Beast Boy was scratching his head in the back seat.

"How can you be afraid of heights when you can fly? I don't get that."

"Hey, I couldn't _always_ fly, ya know!" Bard defended himself. "Some habits die hard. Besides, if you want to get down to brass tacks, I can't actually _fly_. I just tell the wind to hold me up."

"Whoa, big difference." Superboy marveled sarcastically.

Irritated beyond words, Bard started muttering incomprehensively to himself.

Bard: 2 Superboy 2

Bard, Superboy and Beast Boy had just pulled into the mall parking lot.

"I can't believe you didn't take us to Wal-Mart." Superboy joked.

"I would have had I been using my own money." Bard replied seriously. "But since it's Robin's…" He smiled devilishly.

**BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!**

Robin's face appeared on the LCD screen on the dash of the T-Car.

"Speak of the devil…" The cowboy muttered.

"_Titans, trouble!" _He announced. _"I need you to get down to Parker Street."_

"What's going on?" Bard asked him.

"_It's-" _Robin stopped himself and seemed to hesitate for the briefest of moments. _"I don't have time to explain. Superboy, Beast Boy, you two come down and give us a hand. We can handle this without you Bard, so you just finish putting together your costume."_

Before Bard could protest, the LCD screen went to black.

"Let's go," Beast Boy said to Superboy, already halfway out of the T-Car.

"Have fun shopping," Superboy smirked at Bard before he followed the changeling out of the car and both of them took to the air.

Bard frowned to himself as he walked into the mall. Parker Street…that sounded familiar to him for some reason…

The cowboy had forgotten how big this place really was and he was slightly intimidated by it. Which store should he go into? He browsed around a while and finally found a store called 'The Western Eagle'. He shrugged to himself and walked in. It was probably as close to his style as he was going to find in this place.

"Ooooh! A genuine cowboy!" A slightly tubby man in a goatee exclaimed to him. "Do you need help with anything?" His voice was…unnaturally high pitched.

Bard looked at the man warily.

"Uh, yeah…" He said slowly. "I'm a new Teen Titans member and I need to put a costume together."

"Bard?" The man said. "Extremely pleased to meet you! You're even more handsome in person!"

Bard sweat dropped and paled noticeably.

"Oh! Where are my manners?" The man said outrageously, slapping a hand to his forehead. "My name's Jenny!"

Bard blinked. There was no way her heard that right…

"Pardon?"

"Jenny," the man repeated. "My name is Jenny." He pointed to his nametag and, sure enough, 'Jenny' was printed on it quite plainly.

"…Ah, nice to meet you."

Bard tentatively, _very_ tentatively, reached out and shook his hand.

"So!" Jenny said, rubbing his hands together. "Let's get down to business, shall we?" The feminine man began to scan Bard up and down in such a way that made the cowboy very nervous.

"Let's see…" Jenny continued to size him up. "You have the big, broad shoulders, but you have a lean torso. Very good, that trench coat hangs off of you perfectly! C'mon, I've got _lots_ of marvelous ideas! And I think we'll stick to the country western vibe that you've got going on! Let's try on some clothes!"

Jenny dragged a sick looking Bard towards the back of the store.

This was _not_ going to be fun…

Superboy and Beast Boy, in the form of a falcon, landed on Parker Street where the rest of the Titans had gathered not far from Robin's R-Cycle.

"So, what's the big problem?" Superboy asked just as Beast Boy was returning to elf form.

Before anyone could answer, a thirty foot long, broken off lamp post came whizzing by his head like a javelin. Then, from around the corner, a hulking mass of humanity appeared with green eyes and a sharp, short red beard. He was fifteen feet tall and his chest was about as wide as the front end of a truck. He wore the tattered remains of a strait jacket around his torso and dark gray pants that was looked to be a part of some prison uniform.

And he looked really, really pissed off.

"All right, _that_ would be the problem." Superboy answered his own question.

"Don't do anything permanent to him." Robin warned him. "He's mentally unstable, so he isn't aware of what he's doing."

"He's crazy," Superboy clarified for himself. "Got it."

"_BLOOD!" _The huge lunatic roared in a scary, booming voice. "_BLOOD….YOURS….MINE!"_

"I'll take care of this," Superboy told them cockily. He cracked his neck and flew straight at the behemoth with his fist drawn back and-

**WHAM!**

The Boy of Steel was caught with a thundering right hook and went crashing into the side of a brick building.

"Titans! Don't get too close to him!" Robin barked out. Then he turned to Raven. "You think you can communicate with him somehow?"

"I can try," Raven narrowed her eyes in concentration. "_Tim,_" she said silently, casting the words at the husk of muscle before her. _"Tim, can you hear me? You must stop…Tim!"_

"Any luck?" Robin asked, but his tone wasn't very hopeful.

"None," Raven replied. "I can't make contact with him."

"All right, then." Robin decided reluctantly. "Look like we're gonna have to put him down the hard way…Titans, go!"

As was his custom, Robin was the first one to throw himself into the fray. His metal staff was extended and whirling in his hands in a flash and he jabbed the stout end of it towards the pit of Tim's stomach. But the huge man caught the pole and, using it as a fulcrum, slung the Boy Wonder through the air and into a pair of metal trash cans.

Cyborg was up to bat next.

"You're strong," the half robot admitted. "But let's see just how strong you are!"

The metal Titan lumbered forward and grappled with Tim in a test of strength. It was unbelievable to see Cyborg shrunk into significance next to Tim's hulking figure. And no matter how hard Cyborg pushed and struggled against him, the giant simply wouldn't move or budge even a fraction of an inch. Without even looking behind him, Tim back kicked just in time to catch the big green gorilla that was sneaking up behind him in the face. Then he easily scooped up Cyborg and, just like the wrestlers he and Jonny had watched on T.V, he body slammed him hard into the concrete.

Tim paused and blinked.

"Jon…ny?" He muttered.

"Did he not just utter Bard's true name?" Starfire asked.

"Titans, wait!" Robin yelled out and Superboy froze in midair from where he was launching his second attack.

"What is it?" He demanded.

"Perhaps Bard can reach him…" Raven suggested.

"Exactly what I was thinking." Robin agreed, his communicator already in his gloved hand. It didn't take long for the cowboy's face to appear on the small screen. "Bard, we need your help down here." The Boy Wonder skipped the small talk and got right down to business.

"_What's the problem?"_ Bard wanted to know.

"It's…Tim." Robin told him reluctantly. "He's escaped from the clinic. We need you down here on Parker Street."

Robin could see Bard's face fall at his forced admission.

"…_Where is that?_"

"It's one block over from the Clinic Tim was in."

Bard mentally snapped his proverbial fingers. _That's_ why that street name sounded familiar!

"_Ten-four, I'll be there as soon as I can. Bard out."_

Robin put away his communicator and looked up at the others.

"All right, Bard's on his way." He announced to them. "But until he gets here, we need to evacuate this block and make sure Tim doesn't go anywhere! Titans, go!"

Five minutes later, Bard arrived in the T-Car, clothed in his new costume. He still wore his trench coat and cross pendant, but now he was sporting a black cowboy hat. He had a black, leather holster that housed his laser pistol hanging from his belt and a large, silver belt buckle with a stylized 'TT' engraved on its face. The only other difference in his dress was that a large, white cross had been painted onto the back of his coat. Other than that, he still wore blue jeans and his sleeveless black undershirt. But now wasn't the time to comment on his new fashion.

"You got here quick," Beast Boy observed.

"Boosters," Bard answered shortly, not even looking at the changeling. Instead, his eyes observed his old friend sadly. Now that the Titans weren't attacking him, Tim ignored them completely. At the moment, he was contentedly smashing everything in sight with the lamp post he was using as a club.

"What's the plan?" The question was directed at Robin, but Bard didn't take his eyes away from his friend for a second.

"He recognizes your name…your real name." Robin replied. "Maybe you can talk to him."

Bard took in a deep breath to steady himself and stepped forward.

"Tim, stop!"

The huge man jerked his head towards him and regarded him with hostile green eyes.

"He doesn't recognize you." Raven said.

"Tim! It's me, Jonny!" As far as he knew, there was no one around to hear that. Not as if it would have really mattered anyway. But even if it had and there was a parade going on, Bard still wouldn't have given a damn.

Tim's head cocked to the side in puzzlement as if he were a third grader trying to remember the answer to five multiplied by four.

"Jon…..ny?"

"That's right, it's me, Jonny." Bard walked towards his old friend. "Now, let me get you back to the hospital so you can get better…" He reached forward to grab Tim's arm, but the big man pushed him away.

"_NO!…..WANT….BLOOD!"_

"It's not going to work." Robin said, his voice disappointed. "It look like we're going to have to do this the hard way after all."

"Maybe not," Raven contradicted him. "There is a link between he and Bard. Bard could use that link to enter his mind, and perhaps subdue him."

"Would that really work?" Robin asked.

"It's very possible,"

The Boy Wonder turned to Bard.

"Are you up for it?"

Bard was silent for a long moment.

"…Yeah, I'll do it." He finally replied. Then he looked at his half sister. "How do I go about doing this?"

"It's the same as meditation, except instead of focusing within, you need to focus on Tim."

Bard nodded, closed his eyes and concentrated. When he reopened them, he was in a dense jungle with a yellow sky and a great, crimson river of pure blood cascaded down a cliff into nothingness.

Bard was in his best friend's diseased mind.


	34. Breakdown

"_I am sorry to tell you this, Holy Bard, but your sister, Raven, is the one that bears that title." - Zillah_

_**CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR**_

_**BREAKDOWN**_

Bard cautiously looked around at the bright, leafy jungle surrounding him on all sides. If nothing else, he thought to himself, the inside of Tim's mind was a lot more colorful than his. But then again, that might have something to do with his father…

"…Interesting,"

Bard nearly jumped out of his boots and whirled, only to find his half sister behind him.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming, too?" He demanded of her.

"Because I wasn't sure whether or not I would be able to." She answered him simply. "One must have a link with the mind one's entering."

Bard's brow furrowed.

"Then how did you get in here, then? What kind of a link could you possibly have with Tim?"

"We have none. However, I _do_ have a link with you."

"…Oh, I didn't know it worked that way." "Well, now you do." Raven looked around at the tropical setting, her eyes lingering on the river of blood. "Colorful, isn't it?" She said more to herself than to her brother.

"I was thinking the same thing." Bard agreed, but then he paused. "So…what are we supposed to do now?"

"We find the source of Tim's madness."

"But Tim didn't go crazy naturally." Bard objected. "That…venom stuff did it to him, didn't it?"

"The venom simply raised the level of aggression in Tim's mind." Raven explained. "When the aggression level grew too high, it simply recoiled on itself."

"What are you getting at?"

"The aggression targeted something here, in Tim's mind. If we can find what it is and alleviate it, it might be possible to bring him back to normal."

"Why didn't you suggest this before?" Bard half accused her.

"It's just a theory and there are any amount of eventualities. It's entirely possible that our presence here could have ill effects. But now that his body is rampaging, we don't have much of a choice, now do we?"

Bard's blood froze.

"Are you saying that…we could kill him by being in here?"

"It is a possibility, yes." Raven admitted.

Bard shook his head. The death of his best friend would be too heavy a burden to lay on his conscious…it was already loaded down with enough regrets as it was.

"I won't do it." He said adamantly. "You can if you want, but I can't be here if there's a risk of killing him."

"You _have_ to be here."

"….."

"I don't know Tim. All I could do alone is wander though his thoughts and possible hurt something in the process. You, on the other hand, know him better than anyone on the planet if you were as good friends as you say you were."

Bard exhaled deeply, his mind working in overdrive. God, he needed a cigarette…

"Would Tim really want to live the rest of his life as a raving lunatic?" Raven's voice drilled into him relentlessly. "Or would you, for that matter?"

Bard winced. That comment had certainly struck a chord in him.

"All right, fine." He finally gave in. "What do you want to know?"

"Tell me about Tim."

"He's an orphan, just like me, and we grew up together in an orphanage in the south."

"And…?" Raven prodded him.

"And what?"

"That's the most brief and vague history of an individual I have ever heard. You're hiding something."

"Why don't you go back to your body and help the rest of the Titans?" Bard suggested suddenly. "I can do this alone." He had realized that, in exploring Tim's mind, they would uncover a lot of his friend's past…along with his own.

"You need my help and you know it."

Bard sighed. He knew his sister well enough to know that she was going to be adamant about staying and there was absolutely nothing he could do or say to change her mind. He reluctantly concluded that stubbornness was a trait in their particular, dysfunctional family. But now, not only was he going to have to find the source of Tim's madness, which seemed like a hard enough task in itself, but he was also going to have to hide certain memories that would reveal too much of his past to Raven. It was going to be an almost impossible line to walk.

"Greetings, Jonny. And this would be…Raven? Am I precocious in my perhaps abrupt assumption?"

Bard stared. It was…Tim. But it wasn't. The outfit was the same: The tank top that showed off his awesomely muscled arms, the jeans and the combat boots were all in place. But they were also all a pale yellow color. And he hadn't ever remembered Tim wearing glasses…

Raven leaned towards Bard's ear.

"This is the intellectual side of Tim's personality." She whispered.

Bard blinked.

"I didn't know Tim _had_ an intellectual side." He said it a little louder than he had meant to.

"I am not surprised at your ignorance or incredulity at my presence." The yellow Tim said. "Tim could be quite intelligent, but for some intangible reason, he has always refused to tap into my knowledge."

"Well, if you're so smart, can you tell me why Tim is insane?"

"Why is it that the ignorance of men always strive to categorize everything?" The intellectual Tim huffed. "But to answer you question, Jonny, Tim is not mentally unstable. At least, not entirely."

"…He's not?"

"Of course not, some of his mind is still free. If he were insane, then how could it be possible for me to even exist?"

Bard's head cocked to the side. That concept went over his head somehow.

"Then what's wrong with him?"

"_He_ has taken over."

"He?"

"Rage," Raven told him in a tone that sounded much more sure of itself than the guess it was supposed to be.

"Indeed," Yellow Tim told her. "The personification of his emotion of rage has taken over and commandeered his body."

"That simplifies things," Bard shrugged. "We just find Rage and take him to the proverbial woodshed."

"Why is violence always the first solution of all ignorant men?"

Bard stared at him irritably.

"The next time you call me ignorant, I'm gonna serve you a knuckle sandwich. How's that for a violent solution?"

"….Ahem," Yellow Tim cleared his throat nervously. "My apologies. I meant only to explain that Rage cannot be defeated by purely physical means. Well, I think you are both aware that you do not exist here physically…but hopefully you know what I implied."

"All right, Tim, how do we beat this Rage guy then?"

"Timothy," Yellow Tim said rather meticulously, wiping his glasses on the front of his tank top. "My name is 'Timothy'."

"…Ahem, _Timothy_, how do we beat Rage?"

"You must take away his fuel."

But before Bard or Raven could ask him to clarify that statement, the jungle around them began to spin and pulsate in an incomprehensible blur of color and Timothy was sucked into it.

"Raven! What's going on!" Bard yelled over the roaring wind.

"We're being transported."

The force of the spinning material of the world suddenly sucked in the river of blood. Bard flinched and closed his eyes as a great wave of the thick, red liquid barreled its way towards them.

But there was no splash. Instead, when Bard opened his eyes, his vision was filled with a painfully familiar place.

"Where are we?" Raven asked, looking around cautiously.

"This…is the orphanage where Tim and I grew up."

Bard watched his sister examine the place carefully, but her eyes were unreadable.

"That's right, Diesel! Smash him in the face with the steel chair!"

"Don't let him beat you, HBK! Give him the Sweet Chin Music!"

The two young voices were coming from another room. Raven and Bard quickly followed the sound of their voices and came to a small recreational room. Two young boys sat on an old couch, watching professional wrestling on a small, antique television. The boy cheering for HBK had a mop of blonde hair on his head that stuck straight up in the back and wore a pair of thick, large glasses that seemed almost too big for his face. He had cowboy boots on his feet, blue jeans with a Velcro button adorned his legs and he wore a ratty looking Ninja Turtles t-shirt around his torso.

"That's…me." Bard whispered, his voice slightly awed as he stared at his younger self. He was ten years old at the time. He knew that for a fact because he vividly remembered the wrestling match they were watching.

"You had blonde hair?" It was more of an observation than a question.

"It darkened as I got older."

The nine year old version of Tim sat beside him. He was on the chubby side with black shorts and a t-shirt of the same color with a Power Rangers logo across its front.

"Hey! That's not fair!" He suddenly squeaked out. "Shawn Michaels hit him with that fake leg!"

"It's a No Holds Barred match, Timmy!" The young Jonny replied. "There are no rules!"

Without warning, a glistening knife appeared in the young Timmy's hand and he brutally shoved it into Jonny's throat. Blood gushed and Bard gasped simultaneously with his younger self and watched as he was brutally murdered by his best friend. But Timmy wasn't finished there. He withdrew the knife and stabbed him again and again repeatedly until the couch was drenched in blood. Bard gagged and turned away.

"Now _that_ was fun!" Timmy said, morbidly satisfied. But there was something else in his voice; a gravelly and evil undertone.

"You're Rage," Raven said flatly. Bard forced himself to look at the visage of his friend, but he was careful not to let his gaze fall on the bloody, still form of his younger self lying motionless on the couch that stared unseeingly.

Apparently, Rage couldn't see or hear them. Instead, he continued to talk to Jonny's lacerated body.

"I've always wanted to do that." He said, his eyes flashing red. "You always thought you were better than me, you always thought you were right…"

Bard forced the bile in his throat back down again. This was…utterly horrifying.

For icing on the cake, Rage found Jonny's guitar, the one given to him by his grandfather and roughly ran the bloody knife over the strings.

**TWANG!**

The strings rolled back and away as quick as lightening. Tim smashed it to splinters against the floor. Then, with a contemptuously sneer, he tossed the guitar on the couch next to Jonny's dead body.

The scene changed again, and the cowboy found himself standing beside his sister in a darkened movie theater. He and Tim were a couple years older now, and a young girl sat beside each of them. One girl, Bard thought he remember her name being Stacy, sat beside Tim. And, of course, he knew exactly who sat beside him. He felt a strange mixture of happiness and hurt in his heart as he gazed intently at her face. It was nice to see her again so clearly, but her face brought up so much regret within him…

"Who is that sitting beside you?" Raven inquired of him, but he refused to answer.

Meanwhile, Tim had been trying to smooch and explore the body of his date, but Stacy wasn't having it. Finally giving up, he looked over just in time to see Amber whispering something in Jonny's ear and getting up. Almost as soon as she had walked out of the room, Tim stood up and went after her. Bard's brow furrowed in confusion. He hadn't remembered Amber or Timmy leaving the theatre during that double date…Curiously, he followed his friend, barely conscious of the fact that Raven was trailing along right behind him.

Tim stalked the hallways of the place like a thief, swiveling his neck to carefully peer this way and that. But, just like his younger version, he was unable to see them. Finally, Tim reached the women's bathroom and entered.

What the hell was he doing?

Bard followed.

"Amber," Tim called out.

"Tim?" Amber's eyes widened in surprise. "What are you doing here? Is something wrong?"

"Nope, everything's peachy keen, babe." Tim grinned lecherously at her.

"But-"

"I've been watching you, girl. You're cornbread fed and you've got all the right meat in all the right places. Jonny's not man enough to take advantage of that, but I am."

"Y-You're joking… right?" Amber hoped meekly

Bard saw the first glimmer of fear enter her eyes, and his fists clenched at his sides.

"Nope, I'm gonna show you what a real man is."

Tim stepped towards her menacingly. Amber tried to attack him with her purse, but the bigger teen simply caught her wrist and horrendously grinned all the wider, as if her struggles would make what was to come all the more sweeter. He pushed her roughly into the tiled wall as tears started to flood her eyes.

"Please…don't do this!"

Tim continued to advance on her, his eyes flashing red.

"_**Raughhhhhhhhh!"**_ Bard let out a snarl that was so filled with hate and rage that it almost dehumanized him. He flung himself at Tim, but he simply passed through him as if he were nothing more than a hologram or a substance less shadow. There was nothing he could do…

I can't watch this…

_I can't watch this…_

_**I can not watch this!**_

Bard opened his eyes with a shudder. He was once again in his own body and back in the real world. He was sitting on the street and breathing heavily and his face felt very hot. Beast Boy was hovering over him, peering down at him with concern in his eyes.

"Dude, are you all right, Bard?"

But Bard didn't even see him. All he saw was the rampaging Tim. He pushed the green changeling away from him roughly and stood up. Red edged his vision, but he didn't care. He could see Tim, and that was all that mattered to his suddenly callous soul.

With a high-pitched, emotional Rebel yell, Bard rocketed forward on a gust of wind with his fist reared back and…

**WHAM!**

Tim hadn't seen him coming, and his explosive punch caught the big man under the chin in an uppercut. But one punch wouldn't satisfy the cowboy. Not by a long shot.

**WHAM!**

The next punch was buried deeply into the big man's gut.

**WHAM!**

He punched him again.

**WHAM!**

And again.

**WHAM!**

And again

**WHAM!**.

Tim stumbled back. He hadn't been ready for this violent attack. But now he drew back a huge fist to fight back. But Bard was ready. He reared back his leg and, with as much strength as he could muster, drove his cowboy boot into Tim's groin.

"Arghhhhhhhh!

But the cowboy wasn't finished. He viciously drove one of his fingers at one of Tim's exposed eyes.

"ArggghhhH!" Tim screamed out again, sounding like a wounded animal.

The immense man was stooped over, trying to decide whether to clutch his injured groin or his throbbing eye. And Bard took full advantage of his stasis condition. Humming raggedly, he held out both of his hands palms up and formed two fireballs. But, fed by his rage, these two fireballs were twice the size of his normal flames. Bard leapt up and simultaneously slammed the two fireballs on either side of Tim's head.

_**BOOOOOOM!**_

The resulting explosion made his teeth rattle. Tim was down for the count, laying unconscious on the street with his hair and beard smoking. Bard suddenly fell to his knees and started panting heavily in ragged gasps, his eyes would have looked more natural on a wild animal than a human being.

"Bard…" Robin tried to say as he laid a hand on the cowboy's shoulder, but Bard shoved away his touch brusquely, climbed to his feet and stomped away.

"…Bard…" Starfire whispered.

"What's wrong with him?" Superboy demanded, breaking the stunned silence of the rest of the Teen Titans.

"He saw some things." Raven answered solemnly, her face downcast. "He saw some things that…no man should ever have to see."

Bard had no idea where he was going. Nor did he care. His feet moved on their own and felt more mechanical than a flesh and blood part of his own body. His eyes were still wild, his knuckles were scraped and bloody and his hands were shaking visibly. His emotions ran turbulent within his mind so fast that he couldn't identify one before another took its place. He was right on the verge of an emotional breakdown.

He realized that his feet had turned and led him down an alley, but he didn't care. He didn't care about this town, his friends or even himself. He didn't care about anything…

"Holy Bard," a soft, feminine voice addressed him compassionately.

Bard stopped and jerked his eyes up and, sure enough, the purple robed Zillah stood before him.

"I'm not holy and I'm not who you think I am." He snapped. "Now get the hell out of my way."

But Zillah refused to move.

"No one is perfect, Holy Bard. If you were, you would be out healing the sick and disabled and bringing universal peace to the world." She said soothingly. "You have been hurt. You're very soul was attacked. No one can blame you for your harsh reprimand."

"Don't try to tell me you understand!" Bard spat angrily.

"But I do," the mystical girl said calmly. "I have seen into your thoughts, and I have seen all that you bared witness to."

"I don't have to listen to this!" He yelled desperately. "I'm leaving!" But the only problem was, his legs wouldn't obey him.

"You have always kept your pain on the inside." Zillah walked up to him, put her hands on his shoulders and looked up into his face. "You did not wish to burden others with your problems. Though that may sound noble, it only invites sin and corruption to enter your soul."

Unbidden, two great tears filled his eyes. Bard took off his glasses, put them in his coat pocket and tried to quickly wipe them away, but Zillah caught his wrist.

"That is nothing to be ashamed of." She told him softly. "Let your tears wash away the pain in your heart, Holy Bard."

Bard didn't have the strength to stay upright. He fell to his knees, hugged Zillah tightly and buried his face into her stomach. Then, the cowboy began to weep like a broken hearted child.

Carefully, Zillah removed his black cowboy hat and gently placed it on the ground. Then, she gently hugged him with one arm and ran her free hand through his long hair. Alone in a deserted alleyway, she comforted him like the mother he couldn't remember.

Some time later, after Bard's grief had run its course, the cowboy sat with his back against he brick wall of the alley and his knees drawn up to his chest. He held a lit cigarette to his lips with a hand that still trembled ever so slightly. He was still without his glasses and his hat, and he looked like a different man without them. Zillah stood before him, her violet eyes soft and caring.

"T-Thank you," Bard finally stammered out after a particularly long drag from his cigarette. "Thank you, Zillah."

"It was my honor to assist you in your moment of weakness." She assured him. "It pains me, more than you know, to see you distraught."

"Nonetheless, I appreciate you being there for me."

"And I simply appreciate being in your presence."

Silence…

"What was it…that you were going to tell me last night?" Bard wanted to know. "What is it that I was supposed to do?"

"I am sorry, Holy Bard, but I see that you are not quite prepared for your task."

"Maybe not," Bard admitted. "But I want to know what it is anyway. Tell me, Zillah…please." He added earnestly.

She seemed lost in his eyes, searching.

"Very well," she said finally. "You are destined to father a child. A child that, when born, will be the Second Coming."

Bard stared at her.

"B-But…there shouldn't be a need for a father." He objected. "The Virgin Mary-"

"I can offer no explanation to that. I am merely a messenger."

Bard thought about it some more.

"But…Christ won't return until the Antichrist appears on earth…right?"

"You are correct," Zillah told him seriously.

"You mean…the Antichrist is already here?" Bard asked incredulously.

"Indeed she is,"

"_She?"_

"I am sorry to tell you this, Holy Bard, but your sister, Raven, is the one that bears that title."

Bard was dumbfounded.

"Raven?" He repeated disbelievingly, shaking his head. "No way! She can't be!…..I don't believe it!"

"You see? I told you you were not quite prepared for you task."

Since he had no wheels, Bard had no choice but to fly back to Titans Tower. But his mind was so filled that he didn't even have enough time to be afraid. So many things were going through his mind. Raven, the Antichrist? Yeah, right! That Zillah girl was loony toons! But how could he dispel the unwavering trust he felt towards the girl?

But it _would_ explain why Trigon was trying so hard to enter the world…

He remembered his very first day in the tower when Raven told him that the devil was his father. He had immediately asked: 'Are you trying to tell me that I'm the Antichrist?'. And his sister's only response was simply: 'Not exactly'.

Bard sighed.

Why did his life have to be so damned complicated? He knew for sure then that he had a story on his hands. But now he suddenly wasn't sure if it was one he wanted to write. All of his stories had happy endings, and he had sinking feeling that this one wasn't going to end happily ever after.


	35. Blindness Undone

"_I do not fear you, witch, and were I to die by your hands, I would gladly go to the next world with the knowledge that I was able to spit my despite into your teeth with my last breath." - Zillah_

_**CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE**_

_**BLINDNESS UNDONE**_

When Bard arrived back at Titans Tower, he decided to keep a low profile and enter obliquely from the roof. He had flown this far, so he figured just a little further wouldn't hurt him. He wasn't particularly surprised, however, to find his half sister Raven waiting for him on the top.

"How are you?" Her calm, no nonsense tone transformed the somewhat mediocre question into something more serious.

Bard suddenly wondered if his eyes were still red from his crying bout from earlier with Zillah. But if they were and Raven noticed, she gave no outward inclination of it.

"I'm all right now." He said slowly, emphasizing it. "I had time to…think."

"Good, because you sure weren't thinking earlier. That wasn't the real Tim we saw, Bard, it was his rage."

"I know," Bard replied glumly. "Still…I didn't know he could be that sick."

"Hypocrite," Raven accused him.

"_What?_"

"Tell me, what emotion do you think fueled you when you attacked Tim?"

The blood in Bard's veins suddenly turned icy, but then he shook his head.

"Rage and righteous anger are two different things."

"They are the same thing. The means does not dictate the cause." She paused. "You almost killed him, do you know that?"

When she received no reply, she continued.

"We had to rush him to the hospital."

Bard stared and guilt began to gnaw at him.

"Is he okay?"

Raven nodded.

"He's stable, now." She told him. She paused. "In a way…your attack on him might have helped his condition."

Bard's right eyebrow shot up.

"How so?"

"I think…that Tim somehow knew that we were within his mind. He knew what we saw. He was probably ashamed, so now he's fighting it." She paused again. "What you saw was terribly hard on you, but how do you think it affected Tim, knowing that you saw it?"

Bard was silent for a long time as he thought about that, but then:

"See? Rage and righteous anger _are_ different." He said it a little weakly. "Rage is destructive and righteous anger is _con_structive."

Raven just stared dispassionately at him. Her eyes said 'bullshit', but he didn't address it. Instead…

"Did Starfire ever tell you about what she saw when she went into the future?"

Raven actually seemed a little surprised by that sudden question.

"How did you know about that?"

"Robin told me." Bard answered. "Now, did she tell you about it or what?"

"…She did,"

"Were you in it?"

"Yes…" She stopped. "Where are you going with this?"

"Nowhere," Bard shrugged innocently. "I'm just curious, is all." He could tell that he wasn't fooling his sister, however. She wasn't buying it.

"Something happened?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"Of course not!" Bard had said it too quickly, and he knew it.

"You're lying,"

"You've just got a suspicious mind," he made a show of shrugging as he entered the elevator before Raven could question him any further. On the way down, the cowboy felt a strange chill run through him. But he simply shrugged it off.

Bard's first task after talking to his sister was to take his glasses to Cyborg. The cowboy found him in his room/lab and the robot immediately opened the door for him.

"Bard…are you all right, dawg?"

"I'm fine," Bard assured him hastily. "Here, Robin wanted me to bring you my glasses."

Cyborg took the glasses from him, but his concerned eyes stayed on Bard for a long moment before looking down at the eyewear.

"So," he said, getting down to business as he examined them. "We need to make you something that won't fall off your face while you're throwing bombs, right?"

Bard raised an eyebrow under his cowboy hat.

"Throwing bombs?" He repeated.

"Sure," Cyborg said with a shrug. "Those punches you were throwing earlier…they looked like bombs to me. Are you sure you don't have a little bit of super strength? Anyway, the best way for you to be able to see and not have to worry about any glasses coming off is for me to make you some contact lenses."

"No way!" Bard replied quickly.

"Why not? I hear the girls don't like glasses on guys…plus, glasses don't really suit ya, man."

"Hey! I've never had any trouble picking up the ladies!" Bard defended himself quickly, but then he paused. "Glasses don't suit me?" He asked.

"Well, you are kinda the first cowboy I've ever seen that wears glasses, man." Cyborg observed.

"I reckon that just makes me a one in a kind then, huh?"

"Hey, it's your decision. I just thought contacts would be the better choice."

"I'm not sticking _anything_ into my eyes." Bard declared adamantly.

"All right, all right, I guess I can cook up something else for ya."

Bard nodded, picked up his glasses, put them on and started for the door.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

Bard blinked.

"Uh…to my room."

"Not with your glasses, you ain't! I'm gonna need'em."

"For how long?" Bard wanted to know.

"Just a couple of hours."

"A couple of hours! You do know that I'm blind, right?"

"It can't be _that_ bad.?" Cyborg asked skeptically.

"You have _no_ idea." Bard muttered as he laid his glasses down on the counter beside Cyborg. Then he turned and started for the door. But about halfway to it, he hit his hip on a lab table.

**WHUMP!**

"Ow!"

Cyborg snickered and watched the cowboy out of the corner of his human eye. Bard reached the door, but he stubbed the toe of his right cowboy boot against the door frame.

**WHUMP!**

"Ow!"

Instinctively, Bard grabbed his throbbing toe and began jumping up and down on his good boot…until his heel caught on the door stop and he fell unceremoniously onto his rear.

**WHUMP!**

"Ow!"

All this time, Cyborg acted as if he hadn't noticed. Finally, Bard pulled himself up, closed the door behind him and started down the hallway. Cyborg looked over his shoulder with a huge grin on his face. Then, shaking his head, he turned back to his work.

**WHUMP!**

"Shit!"

Bard sat upright against the headboard of his bed with his nose buried deeply in his bible. He was still without his glasses, (and he had the bruises to prove it), so he had to literally touch each individual page with his nose to be able to read the text. The things Zillah told him had deeply disturbed him, and he wanted to brush up on his religious knowledge.

The Book of Revelations had always been the most confusing for Bard. The first problem was that it was a dream in written form, and dreams are always hard to explain. The second problem was that it had been written thousands of years ago and obtained analogies that no longer had any meaning. Nowadays, you could say 'it's raining cats and dogs' and everyone would know exactly what you were talking about. But if you said it a few thousands of years into the future, chances are no one would understand what you meant.

Revelations was also the one book in the bible that Bard did not enjoy reading. Besides being hard to understand, it spoke of the end of the world and, to put it bluntly, the end of the world was damn scary. But relentlessly, Bard plowed through the text.

Finally, Bard stumbled upon a huge hole in Zillah's prophecy: The Antichrist wasn't supposed to appear on earth until _after_ the rapture and Raven was already here. Then again…perhaps Raven did not officially become the Antichrist until Trigon finally took over her body…

But there was another problem. If Bard was supposed to conceive the baby that would be Christ's body, he would have to do it before he left during the Rapture. And besides that, he would have to…conceive with a woman that didn't believe. That didn't sound right at all, however…The Virgin Mary had been a good, God-believing woman, so why would Jesus want to born through a sinner? Not only that, but the Book of Revelation didn't say anything about Jesus actually being _born_ to enter the world and signal the Second Coming. Actually, by the way Bard read it, he would simply appear descending from Heaven.

Bard closed the book, looked up at the ceiling, (which was a total blur in his vision), and thought about it. He trusted Zillah; he trusted her more than anybody he'd ever met, even if he couldn't figure out why. Well, almost anybody. But Amber was different. She was the Queen of Hearts in his deck of cards.

If she was still alive, that was.

Bard shook his head angrily to dispel that thought. She had to be alive! He could feel it!

The cowboy frowned and tried to concentrate on the matter at hand.

He trusted Zillah, but the words of her prophecy had holes in them. But, then again, it wasn't _her_ who saw the prophecy! It was her master! He frowned as he thought of something else. Zillah had said something along the lines of her master reading the future in the stars. But astrology was a sin, wasn't it? Who Zillah's master was, Bard didn't know, but he _did_ begin to smell something fishy. Suddenly, a plan half formulated in his mind. He'd get to the bottom of this himself! He got up and half ran to the door.

**WHUMP!**

"Damn it!"

Bard made his way down the hallways slowly, trying his best not to bump into anything. He had enough bruises as it was. He felt he didn't need anymore. He looked up and saw something coming at him; a blur of red and yellow. When you were talking about something red and yellow in Titans Tower, you were talking about…Robin!

_Uh-oh…_

Bard knew he had about a millisecond before the Boy Wonder saw him. He looked around, but there was nowhere to hide. Sighing, the cowboy sucked it up and resigned to his fate.

"Bard, I've been looking for you. We need to talk." Robin said it firmly.

_Crap…_

"Listen," Bard said, trying to defend himself. "I know what I did was wrong but-"

"Raven told me that you saw some unpleasant things in Tim's mind." Robin interrupted, guessing what Bard was getting at. "She wouldn't clarify, but I gathered that it was pretty intense. Regardless, you can't simply…unleash yourself on someone like that."

Bard nodded silently.

"You _have_ to learn to control your anger." The Boy Wonder told him. "You know, for a supposedly God-fearing man, you sure do have an destructive spirit." He added coolly.

Bard couldn't help himself. He grit his teeth and clenched his fists in anger. Leader or not, he had no right to question his-

"See?" Robin told him, noticing immediately. "I was able to get under you skin much too easily. Work on it." With that, the Boy Wonder continued along the hallway.

Bard didn't move for a long time. Robin's comment had only been an demonstration and the junior detective had played him like a fiddle!

…..Maybe he _did_ have a little bit of an anger problem…

He shook his head and continued on his way. He gave a brief, cursory knock on Cyborg's door when he reached it, opened it up via the control panel in the wall and walked in.

"Great timing!" Cyborg greeted him, as he set down something and a linen white rag that Bard assumed he had been using to polish something. "I just finished your new and improved glasses."

"Let's check it out, then." Bard grinned and walked over. Cyborg handed him the glasses and Bard found something wrong right away. "Uh…aren't you forgetting something?"

"I don't think so."

"These glasses don't have any ear bars, Cy." Bard pointed out. "How am I supposed to keep them on?"

"Hah! That's the secret, my man!" Cyborg told him proudly. "The nosepiece has thousands of tiny, microscopic suction cups and it'll take at _least_ two hundred pounds of force to take them off!"

Bard's eyebrow shot up.

"Impressive…but then again, how am I-"

"Supposed to take them off?" Cyborg guessed the rest of his sentence. "All you gotta do is slide'em down off your nose."

Bard nodded and examined the glasses even more intently. The lenses were small, just barely enough to cover his eyes, but they were also perfectly round with a bright, silver frame. He did find one problem, however…

"I don't want to criticize but…how am I supposed to see at night with the lenses tinted black?"

Cyborg's grin nearly split his face.

"Try'em on and see." He told him.

Bard shrugged and pressed the nosepiece of the glasses hard against the bridge of his nose to keep them in place…and started in surprise.

"How in the world-" He began incredulously. "I can see just as clear in these things than with my old glasses! How'd you do it?"

Cyborg laughed.

"Let's just say I have a pen pal that works down at Star Labs." He smiled. "Sometimes he sends me things that aren't exactly…open to the public."

Bard grinned.

"I won't tell if you don't." He paused as he looked around. "Is it just me…or can I see better than I did before with my other glasses?"

"Yup," Cyborg answered proudly. "If I examined the prescription in your other glasses right, you can see just as well as a normal person now. I won't bore you with the long theory, so let's just say that it has to do with special magnification techniques."

"Wow," Bard said, checking himself out in a mirror. "You really outdid yourself. Thanks, Cy."

"You're right, I _did_ outdo myself." Cyborg agreed. "Cause I made you something else, too."

"You did?"

"Yup! I was thinking about those punches you always sling out, so I thought you could use a different rumble weapon. You're pretty good with your laser pistol but…" Cyborg coughed uncomfortably.

"But I can't use that staff Robin gave me worth a lick, right?" Bard remembered the battle against Slade's robots up at that creepy cabin in the mountains. He had pulled out the staff and charged…only to have one of the robots shoot it out of his hands with a laser.

"Er, well…Anyway, I made you these." Cyborg reached onto his worktable and brought out two metal objects and handed them to Bard to examine.

"Brass knuckles?"

"Adamantine, actually." Cyborg corrected. "The hardest substance on earth!"

"Heh, I feel like James Bond, getting all these spiffy gadgets." Bard said as he marveled at his new weapons.

"Spiffy?" Cyborg asked mildly.

"'Cool'," Bard corrected himself with a shrug.

"That's better." Cyborg approved. "But I would have went with 'frosty'. Anyway, bashing people isn't all those things do. There's a button on the side-"

Bard looked down and found the small, almost invisible button on both of them that was positioned in such a way that he could press them with his thumb when he was wearing them.

"-and when you press'em, it'll send out an electric shock."

Bard grinned.

"Now that…is coo-, er, frosty!"

"I thought you might like it. Now get out of my lab so I can work on the T-Trainer."

"Say what?"

"The Mad Mod virtual reality thing." Cyborg clarified for the cowboy.

"Ah, how's that coming along?"

"Not too bad, actually."

"Good, good." A pause. "Well, I reckon I ought to be ridin' along. Thanks again, Cy."

"No problem!" The big robot waved his thanks to the side with a huge hand.

Bard headed for the door, wearing his new glasses and knuckles, but Cyborg stopped him halfway.

"By the way, I like your new outfit. It captures the whole 'holy cowboy thing'."

Bard thanked him, but as soon as he left, he frowned. People sure were calling him 'holy' a lot…Did he really come across that way? _He_ didn't think so, at least. Nevertheless, he shrugged it off and headed up to the roof.

With his new glasses, Bard was able to make it up to the roof with no scrapes or bruises. It felt good to be able to see again. He looked around and, as luck had it, Raven was gone. Probably to go read a book or something… He decided to meticulously search ever square inch of the big roof, however, to make sure no one was there before he put his plan into action. Finally satisfied that he was indeed alone, he lifted up his face to the sky.

"_ZILLAH!"_ He yelled at the top of his lungs in no particular direction.

Nothing…

"_ZILLAH!"_

"There is no need to shout, Holy Bard. My hearing is quite acute."

Bard whirled around to gaze at the closed lipped, smiling face of Zillah.

"You could have appeared in front of me, you know." He suggested to her a little sourly.

"I know," she said with that same, small smile on her face. "But it was more fun to do it the other way."

Bard blinked. So the dark haired mystic had a sense of humor after all! But before the cowboy could comment on that fact, the last thing he expected to happen at that moment did. A dark hole of obsidian energy appeared in the floor of the roof, and up through it emerged Raven and Starfire!

Bard was obviously dumbfounded, staring at the two female member of the Teen Titans with a slacked jaw.

"I knew you were hiding something…" Raven droned. She barely glanced at her half brother, however. Instead, she decided to stare hard at Zillah. "Who are you?"

"I feel no need to answer inquiries from the likes of _you_." Zillah sniffed.

Bard quickly looked back and forth between the two teenage girls. Raven's gaze was hard and suspicious and Zillah's returning gaze was cold and condescending. The newest Titans could almost _see_ the sparks erupting between them. Desperately, he tried to do something to loosen up the tense situation. His eyes fell on Starfire. Of course! Who better to soothe the tension than the kindhearted alien?

"Starfire," he whispered to her. "What's going on?" It was the best he could come up with on such short notice.

"I am not sure." The Tammaranian whispered back. "Raven and I were meditating one moment, and in the next she pops open her eyes and conjures up one of her teleporting doorways."

Bard blinked.

"You meditate?"

Starfire nodded.

"Though I am not as adept at the skill as Raven, I do enjoy the peace and tranquility the act brings to my heart. It all started when the miniscule villain Puppet King-"

Meanwhile, the Zillah/Raven situation was quickly deteriorating.

"If you don't start talking," Raven was threatening the mystic through clenched teeth. "Then I'm going to _make_ you talk."

"I do not fear you, witch, and were I to die by your hands, I would gladly go to the next world with the knowledge that I was able to spit my despite into your teeth with my last breath."

This was very quickly getting out of hand…

"Girls, girls!" Bard said a little desperately, halfway coming between them. "There's no reason to fig-"

Both of the purple robed girls jerked their heads around to stare at him, shooting venom at him through their eyes.

Bard sweat dropped.

"Well, uh…" He floundered. "I think I'm just….gonna…stand over here…alone…" He told them and nervously backed away. He dug through his coat and brought out a black lighter and a cigarette.

He had feeling he was going to need that and more…

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_I'm not a big fan of author's notes because they break up the continuity of a story. However, I think this might be important. First, keep in mind that I am not an expert on Christianity. There may be some small (hopefully) mistakes. Please bare that in mind._

_Also, this is being written at the end of Season Two. Season Three of Teen Titans is showing now, so there might be (and probably will be) some gaps with continuity. Sorry about that._

_And last but not least, review! It helps so much!_

_Strive for Righteousness,_

_Lord Belgarion_


	36. Into The Rabbit Hole

_"I know I have much naivety in the ways of earthlings. But love is universal. The way she looks at you…it is quite obvious." - Starfire_

_**CHAPTER THIRTY SIX**_

_**INTO THE RABBIT HOLE**_

Bard puffed away nervously at his cigarette, but he barely tasted it as the smoke entered through his mouth and slide down his throat into his lungs, only to rewind and escape the same way it entered. With Zillah and Raven staring holes into each other, he knew he was in the middle of an incipient explosion. But try as he might, he couldn't think of anything he could do to resolve it.

"What do you want with Bard?" Raven demanded of the mystic.

"He is needed for a great task. One that will change the world forever."

Raven's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"What kind of task?"

"I cannot impart that knowledge unto you." Zillah replied, his tone just a trifle smug. "My master forbids me."

"And who is your master?"

"That, also, in none of your concern."

Raven sighed in frustration.

"Perhaps I should put you in a jail cell." Raven threatened. "We'll see exactly how high and mighty you are after staring at cold concrete for a few days."

"Uh…we can't arrest her, Raven." Bard said hesitantly.

"Why not?" Raven asked him, but her eyes were still firmly locked into Zillah's.

"Well…she hasn't broken any laws!"

"Sure she did. She's trespassing."

"Um, not exactly…" Bard told her meekly. "I…kinda invited her here and-."

Finally, Raven broke her gaze from Zillah and swiveled her head to start balefully at her half brother. Now her wrath was directed at _him._

"You invited her?" She spit out between clenched teeth. She was obviously having some difficulty in restraining herself. "You _invited_ her?"

"Silence!" Zillah boomed at her, her feminine voice strangely authoritative. It was so commanding that it actually made Bard jump. "In the name of God Almighty I command you to step aside!"

Raven looked at the girl with wide, surprised eyes, but then she shook her head with an ironic smirk on her lips.

"I should have known you were a delusional, religious fanatic. But listen to this: Fictional beings can't control me. I live in reality and you live in an ideological fantasy land. Let me give you some advice: Wake up!"

Zillah's violet eyes narrowed dangerously and Bard could almost see the steam billowing out of her ears. She drew herself up, almost as if to strike at Raven, but then she turned to Bard.

"Now do I see the true extent of your holiness." She told him. "Were I to live in such close proximity to that _witch_, much less if the same blood coursed through both our veins, I would be forced to wreak retribution on her for cause of her disrespect." The girl looked spitefully at Raven as she said the word 'witch'.

This was going too far, Bard decided. If he didn't step in now, he was afraid that their 'discussion' would escalate into something more than an exchange of lightly thinned insults and threats.

"Raven," he said to his sister quietly as he stepped over closer to her. "Maybe you should let me and Zillah talk alone…" He suggested.

"No," she replied almost automatically. "She's not to be trusted."

"Please, Raven," Starfire cajoled her. Bard was slightly startled. With the war of words going on between Raven and Zillah, he had all but forgotten that Starfire was there with them. "I think it might be best for all if you were to leave. I will stay behind to guard your brother, so to ease you mind."

Bard blinked. Starfire had just offered to protect him. Sure, she was an alien with superhuman strength, flight, and the power to sling fiery bolts of energy at will…But she was still a girl. Though he appreciated her concern, it didn't do much for his ego. Not to mention the fact that she would be protecting him from _another _girl…

Meanwhile, Raven had been mulling over the Tammaranian's offer silently.

"Fine," she finally clipped reluctantly. "But call me on my communicator the first moment something goes wrong."

"I will, Raven." Starfire assured her.

Nodding, Raven gave one last hateful look at Zillah before the ground beneath her feet grew black and opalescent. She sank into that inky darkness and was gone.

Suddenly, something clicked in Bard's mind. He knew how his sister had figured out about his impromptu meeting.

"You can take back the black hole you put in my coat, too, Raven." He said a little louder than normal. He had remembered her doing the same thing when he first arrived at Titans Tower, so that she could overhear his and Kitten's conversation at the Juvenile Prison.

"My souls feels much lighter now." Zillah announced to them then with the small, content smile back on her lips. "I could almost feel the darkness of her spirit seeping into me and trying to taint me."

Bard threw away his cigarette after one last long drag and decided to ignore that particular comment, despite the fact that it immediately heated up his blood.

"I'm sorry for the interruption, Zillah, but I called you here so I could ask you some questions."

"I will answer what I can."

"Thank you," Bard said gratefully, but then he got down to business. "How sure are you of this prophecy of yours?"

"It came from my master's mouth. Thus, my trust in it is absolute."

"Who _is_ you master?"

"That I cannot say." Zillah answered him.

Bard looked disappointed.

"However," she continued. "I can take you to meet him."

_Jackpot!_ This would probably even be better than learning his name!

"What about Starfire? Can she come with us?"

Zillah turned her violet eyes to observe the alien. Starfire fidgeted under her gaze.

"I will vouch for her presence before my master." She told him finally. "She is not a believer, but her heart is good and pure."

"Great," Bard said, clapping and rubbing his hands together like a man preparing himself to lift something heavy. "Let's go, then."

"Merely escort me across the water, Holy Bard, and I will show you the way."

"I'd be glad to," Bard smiled. Zillah smiled back.

"One moment, friends." Starfire said, already reaching for her communicator. "I must inform Raven of our departure."

Bard gently caught her wrist.

"Ah…maybe it would be best to tell her _after_ we've left, Star." He suggested, hoping desperately that his sister _did_ in fact take away the black hole in his coat like he had told her to. This was _not_ the time for her to be eavesdropping.

Starfire looked up into his face for a moment, studying him with her large, emerald eyes. Finally, she nodded.

"V-Very well, friend Bard." She relented. "I will trust your discretion."

"Thank you,"

Bard offered his hand to Zillah and, when she took it, he picked her up and cradled her gently in his arms. Then, humming softly, the wind lifted them up into the air with Starfire not far behind. The cowboy noticed right off the bat that Zillah hardly weighed anything at all. She was quite small and petite, but her figure was hidden beneath the folds of her robe. Halfway across the water to the mainland, he also noticed that she was hanging on to him much tighter than necessary. It made him nervous, for some reason…

The three of them finally reached the mainland and landed on the first rooftop available. The mystic seemed a little reluctant to disentangle herself from Bard's embrace.

"Now," Zillah said after Bard had let her down. "Follow me, and I shall lead you to my master." There was an barely audible 'pop', and she was gone.

"Where'd she go?" Bard asked quickly.

"There," Starfire pointed at a rooftop perhaps a block or so away. Bard looked and was actually surprised when he was able to see her as well. Those new glasses Cyborg had given him were…frosty!

The two Titans took to the air again.

"So she is a teleporter?" Starfire asked from where she flew beside the cowboy.

"It seem that way, doesn't it?" Bard agreed. "She can do some telepathy, too, I think."

As they neared the building Zillah had been waiting for them on, she teleported and reappeared further away on another rooftop.

"I perceive, friend Bard, that this Zillah girl had taken a liking to you." Starfire commented.

Bard coughed nervously.

"I, uh, think you're mistaken, Star."

"I know I have much naivety in the ways of earthlings," she admitted. "But love is universal. The way she looks at you…it is quite obvious."

"…."

"What is the matter, friend Bard? Do you not return those same feelings?"

"…Can we not talk about it?"

"As you wish," Starfire murmured.

Bard thought about that as they continued to follow Zillah through the city. He wasn't ready for love right now. Sure, he had had some feelings for Starfire when he first came to Titans Tower, but he did not love her. At least, not the way Robin did. The cowboy had simply been attracted to the brightness of her spirit on a planet that became darker and darker each day.

No, as far as Bard was concerned, he only had one love.

Not long later, Zillah appeared on a rooftop at the outskirts of town and waved the two flying Titans in.

"Is this where your master resides?" Starfire asked after she and Bard had landed.

Zillah shook her head.

"No, he does not live in the city. For all cities are the concentration of sin."

Bard, having recognized that phrase from the bible, decided not to ask her about it.

"So where is he?" He opted to ask instead.

"There," Zillah turned and pointed to the mountains outside the city. "Unfortunately, I cannot teleport and lead your way, since the foliage of the trees would mask my visage from you. Instead, I must oblige upon you to carry me once more, so that I may direct you."

Bard hesitated for a moment, but then he nodded. If Zillah noticed his hesitation, she chose not to comment on it.

Back in the air next to Starfire and holding Zillah as he flew over the forests and mountains, Bard found that Autumn had snuck up on him. The trees below held leaves that were multicolored: Golds and reds and everything in between. And they were beautiful. Back in his hometown, Bard had often drifted away from the city into the countryside at this time of year just to look at them.

But the cowboy quickly reminded himself that this was a pleasant stroll, (or more accurately, a flight), with friends to appreciate the scenery. He was going to some unknown place to hear a prophecy, one that proclaimed his half sister to be the Antichrist, straight from the mysterious horse's mouth.

Experimentally, Bard tried to hold Zillah a bit further away from him, but his fears were confirmed when she clung to him all the tighter. Of course…She _could_ be afraid of heights or something…

Yeah, right. This girl wasn't even afraid of the person she believed to be the _Antichrist!_

"There," Zillah said, pointing at a cliff face. "Do you see that branch protruding from the rock?"

"Yeah, I see it."

"Fly us inside it."

Bard blinked.

"Uh…inside it?"

"Yes," Zillah told him calmly.

"But…we'll crash!"

"Have faith, Holy Bard. Do you not trust me?"

Bard admitted to himself that he did. Taking a deep breath, he grit his teeth and aimed for the cliff face, with Starfire just behind. Just before the inevitable collision, Bard clenched his eyes shut.

The only problem was, there was no collision.

Bard opened his eyes and found that he was standing beside Zillah and Starfire in a narrow cave. He looked to where they had entered, but all he saw was a damp, rock wall. With narrowed eyes, he walked over and hesitantly reached out his hand to touch it. But his hand sank into the wall as if it were water. The image of the rocky wall shimmered slightly around his forearm.

"A hologram," Starfire said.

"You are most perceptive, Starfire." Zillah told her. "Now, please follow me and I'll take you to my master and show you my home."

Side by side, Starfire and Bard walked down the passageway with Zillah leading the way. As he walked, Bard carefully examined the walls. They were sharp and irregular, but he could also see the tool chippings in the rock face. That meant that this cave had been cut out…by hand. The cowboy shuddered at how much labor, not to mention the number of years, it took to complete such a thing.

It grew darker as they walked deeper and deeper into the cave and Zillah pushed the hood of her robe back over her shoulders. Bard realized something then. The first two times he had seen Zillah, her hood had been down. But then again, it was night on both of those occasions. The second two times he had seen her, the hood had been up and it had been daylight. Then it hit him. If Zillah lived in these caves, then she would be used to the dark and, vice versa, her eyes would be sensitive to the light.

"Ah," Zillah intoned without breaking stride. "It seems your companion is not the only perceptive one among us, Holy Bard."

Bard was a bit startled at that. He had forgotten Zillah's ability to look into his thoughts…And what other thoughts of his had she seen?

When it grew too dark to see, Starfire summoned a star bolt and held it up over her head, casting a green light over everything. Eventually, they reached the end of the passageway and Zillah turned to them.

"Behold," she said, a little pride in her voice. "This is my home."

Bard and Starfire, both quite a bit taller than Zillah, stepped forward and looked over her shoulders. They had reached a wide cavern, and there was no doubt that what lay before them was indeed a community. There were houses, buildings and streets. Although there were dim lights spaced apart regularly, the whole place seemed to be covered with shadows. It was abnormally quiet and Bard soon saw why. There wasn't a soul around.

"Where is everybody?" He asked.

"It is the hour of service. My master is teaching." Zillah answered him.

"Everybody here attends church?"

Zillah nodded.

"The entire purpose of this community is to worship." She said. "Attendance is universal."

"Neat trick," Bard grinned. "There's no way you could do that in a regular city."

"Yes," Zillah said a little forlornly. "I know."

Suddenly, a chorus of voices suddenly rose from the deep silence. Bard did not recognize the language in which they sang but, being a musician himself, quickly heard that it was a complex and beautiful melody.

"Glorious," Starfire breathed, agreeing with Bard's thoughts.

"I have always found it so myself." Zillah told her. "Now, allow me to show you to suitable quarters while I go and speak with my master."

The mystic led them down into the subterranean town and Starfire and Bard looked all around them, amazed that a place like this actually existed. Suddenly, Bard laughed.

"What is it that is humorous?" Starfire asked him.

"It's just that humans are slaves to conformity." He answered, smiling. "Look at the houses. All of them have roofs on them. It's not like it's going to rain in here, right?"

"That is true, friend Bard." Starfire replied. "But I believe you are overlooking something."

"What's that?"

"It is true that the weather means nothing here, but I believe it _will_ become cold. Would it not be difficult to keep heat inside a house with an open roof?"

Bard scratched his cheek a little sheepishly, noticing again that he could use a shave.

"I reckon I didn't think of that…"

"Here we are," Zillah announced, stopping before a small, stone building and turning towards the two Titans. "You may rest here while I go inform my master that you request his presence. Make yourselves comfortable." With that, the mystic turned and went deeper into the city.

Bard shrugged.

"I reckon that means we should just make ourselves at home then." He opened the door to the building, held it open for Starfire and went inside behind her.

The interior was simple, but it was a cozy little place. It was one big room, but there was a low, cushioned divan sitting against a wall in front of a fireplace where a fire was glowing cheerily. On the other side of the room was a small, wooden table with two chairs. Bard pulled one of them out and sat down, even as Starfire sank herself down onto the divan.

"Bard…Why are we here?" She asked.

Bard sighed and scratched the back of his neck. He knew that this would be coming sooner or later, but he wasn't exactly sure how much he wanted to tell her.

"Well," he started hesitantly, still wondering how much he wanted to explain to her. "Zillah…I met her a couple of days ago and she told me that her master had come up with a prophecy."

"And what is the nature of this prophecy?"

"It says that Raven is, uh, evil." Bard was trying to keep it as simple as possible. He wasn't sure if he'd have time to explain some of the more complicated parts of the bible.

Starfire's eyes widened.

"But that cannot be true!" She told him passionately with widened, emerald eyes. "True, Raven is sometimes reclusive and unsociable, but she is a good person!"

"I know that, Star." Bard replied with more confidence in his conviction than he actually felt. "I'm just here to…make sure that they aren't up to no good."

"You expect the foul play?"

"Maybe," Bard admitted. "I don't want to make any accusations yet, though. For now, let's just go along with everything they say."

Zillah didn't keep them waiting for long. Perhaps fifteen minutes later, there was a brief knock at the door and she walked in. Behind her was a young man, perhaps sixteen years old, with pale, colorless hair and large, almost black eyes. Strangely for a person living underground, his skin was exotically dark. He wore a simple, cheap even, white linen robe and plain sandals adorned his feet. The last of Zillah's company entered behind him, and there was no doubt that he was the one the mystic referred to as 'master'.

He was a tall man with wispy, snowy hair and a saintly face. He had kindly, deep blue eyes and wore an immaculately white, flowing robe. He was obviously very old, but he had a vitality within him that belied his age.

"And this," Zillah introduced him. "Is my master."

The elderly man's eyes first fell upon Starfire.

"So this is the girl in which you told me about?" He asked Zillah.

The purple robed mystic nodded, even as her master peered intently at the Tammaranian.

"You were correct." He said, not breaking off his direct gaze. "Her heart is pure, and there is a kindness within her that is almost…inhuman." He smiled. "Well met, child. You have my blessings."

Starfire thanked him nervously.

"And you must be Bard."

And now the old man's direct gaze was directed at _him_. Their was a strength in his wise eyes. They seemed to be looking directly into his soul.

"Ah," he said, as if he had found what he was looking for. "Zillah's lavish praisings of you were not unfounded. There is a great strength in you, and I see many great things in your future. You also, have my blessing, though I see that you do not truly need it."

The cowboy nodded awkwardly in acknowledgment.

"Oh! A thousands apologies, friends. I have yet to introduce my self. My name," he said. "Is Brother Blood."


	37. Blood

"_Being a superhero is not your true calling, Bard. You are a man of God. And thus, it is your responsibility to look over his children." - Brother Blood_

_**CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN**_

_**BLOOD**_

"My name," the saintly old man introduced himself. "Is Brother Blood."

Bard blinked.

"Blood?" Starfire blurted out apprehensively in surprise.

Brother Blood chuckled softly.

"Oftentimes I am met with that same reaction." He smiled gently at her. "I am from a long line of Brother Bloods." He explained. "The very first was…an evil man before he found his way. It was he who earned the name 'Blood'."

"He was also the most powerful of all the Bloods." The young, pale haired teenager added quickly.

Brother Blood's blue eyes flickered slightly with annoyance.

"Sebastion," he said to the young man. "I'm sure our guests' journey was fatiguing. Go fetch them some water."

A barely visible sneer appeared on Sebastion's face, but he nonetheless bowed curtly and exited the building.

"Now, friends." Brother Blood said after he had left. "Please sit yourselves. There is no need for formality."

Zillah sat beside Starfire on the low divan, and Brother Blood lowered himself in the chair across from Bard.

"You must forgive my son. He sometimes speaks without thinking. Now," Brother Blood continued once he had settled himself. "I'm sure you must have some questions…"

"How long have you been here?" Bard asked promptly, taking advantage of the opportunity.

"My four predecessors preached from here for exactly five hundred years, tomorrow."

Bard brow furrowed. His math wasn't the best in the world, but…

"Tell me, do Terrans normally have century long life spans?" Starfire was obviously already ahead of him.

"Ah, your mind is quick." Brother Blood smiled approvingly at her. "No, humans do not normally live so long. However, my predecessors and I have had some help. This robe in which I wear is rumored to be the funeral shawl of Christ. Whether that is true or false, I cannot say. However, it lengthens it's wearer's life span and sometimes gives him other abilities."

Bard stared at the robe a bit harder. Somehow, he had the ability to recognize holy things, and the proof of that was in the cross pendant around his neck. He felt _something_ from the shawl…but what it was exactly he could not say. He did, however, find it hard to believe that it had been worn by Christ.

"Actually," Brother Blood continued. "Our life spans would be even longer if it wasn't for the curse." He added ominously.

"Curse?" Bard mimicked. "What kind of curse?"

"It-" Brother Blood cut himself off immediately as Sebastion reentered the room with two wooden cups of water, which he silently handed to Bard and Starfire.

"Brother Blood," Bard repeated politely after nodding his thanks to Sebastion. "What kind of-"

"Of that I will inform you later." The old man said quickly. As he said it, he cut his blue eyes toward Sebastion for the briefest of seconds. It was hardly noticeable, but Bard caught it. He had a sneaky suspicion that, whatever this whole curse thing was about, it involved the young man somehow.

There was an awkward silence in which Sebastion looked up at his father suspiciously.

"Forgive my abruptness," Brother Blood said finally. "But my birthday is tomorrow and I must make preparations."

"Happy Birthday," Bard told him.

"….Yes, you have my thanks." Brother Blood's eyes looked a little troubled. "Zillah," he said, turning to the girl. "Perhaps our guests would enjoy a tour of our home here?"

"That would be most wondrous!" Starfire gushed approvingly.

Bard wasn't sure how he felt about that. Brother Blood was a charismatic and kind man, and it seemed as if he already had Starfire completely enthralled. But then again, Star had always seen the good in people long before examining their faults. He had yet to do anything incriminating, but Bard decided to still keep his guard up.

"Very well," Brother Blood approved. "When you have finished, Zillah, please bring Bard to come speak to me."

Zillah bowed in acceptance and the saintly old man and his son Sebastion quietly left the building.

No matter who built this subterranean city, Bard had to admit to himself that it was incredible. The architecture was alien, and it was simple and profound at the same time. The walls of all the building were all falling down against each other. But since they were all falling against each other at the exact same angle, the buildings were surprisingly secure structures. It also made each building look strangely like a tent.

There were a few people out and about now, but they were few and far between. Every single one of them wore white linen, quite similar to what Sebastion was wearing. Bard wondered why Zillah was the only one to wear a different color, but he decided not to ask her about it.

Also, in certain places within the small community Bard could still hear the echoes of the hymn he had heard sung earlier. The song was discordant, but it was still beautiful nonetheless.

"The hymn never really dies." Zillah told him when he commented on it. "It is sung each hour, and the echoes of the caves keep it alive."

"How do you live down here?" Bard asked her. "What I mean is…where do you get your food and water?"

"There is an underground river that runs not far from here." Zillah explained. "And foragers and hunters go above ground at night for food."

"A river which flows beneath the earth, truly?" Starfire asked with the enthusiasm of a child. "I have never seen such."

"I could show you, if you desire." Zillah offered.

"That would be most wonderful!"

"You two go ahead," Bard told them, smiling at Starfire's joy. Only she could find happiness out of looking at a river. "I'm gonna rest here for a second."

Zillah studied him for a moment, but the she nodded.

"Very well," she agreed. "We will be back shortly."

When they were gone, Bard sat down on the ground and leaned his back against the closest building he could find. Brother Blood seemed like a nice enough person, despite his name. But in retrospect, the saintly man had yet to really tell him anything. He figured the man would get down to business once Zillah had finished showing them around. He had asked to see him alone then, after all.

Suddenly, Bard jerked his head up out of his thoughts. It had gotten…quiet, all of a sudden. Sure, the place had been quiet before, but there had still been the murmur of the hymn and the slight scrapping of sandals against rock. The cowboy climbed to his feet and walked to the center of the street, looking around suspiciously.

Then, as silent as smoke, black robed figures emerged fluidly from the shadows, all of them armed with stone maces. Bard's hand flashed down to his laser pistol, but he stopped himself. The figures surrounding him looked almost like ninjas, but the lower half of their masks were open, revealing the fact that they were human. Bard had no qualms about using his pistol against Slade's robots…but real people? True, a laser shot from it at close range hadn't killed him, (Kitten had proved that), but then again, he wasn't exactly your run of the mill average joe. And the fact that the were human also eliminated his powers, as he was sure throwing a lightning bolt at one of them would _probably_ be fatal.

"Leave this place," one of them told him, evidently the leader. "And we will cause you no harm."

That gave Bard a spark of hope. They didn't _really_ want to hurt him. But then again, he thought with a frown, their idea of not hurting him involved bashing him over the head with stone maces…

"I can't do that." Bard replied to the leader.

"You have one more chance to reconsider."

"…." Bard's answer wasn't going to change.

Silence fell between them, and Bard knew that the time for talk was over.

The leader charged at him first, his mace held high over his head to smash down onto Bard's skull. But Bard caught his wrist and blindly directed a reverse kick behind him. Bard's cowboy hat came off of his head, but he didn't have time to worry about that just now. His cowboy boot smashed firmly into the chest of another black robed attacker.

"Oof!"

Next, Bard spun and wrenched the leader's arm so hard that he flipped forward and landed painfully on his back. Bard was kicked in the chest, but he retaliated immediately as he threw a big punch at the black robed attacker. The man held up his mace to block the attack. But the adamantine knuckle that covered Bard's fist smashed right through the mace, reducing it to dust and rubble, and connected solidly with the man's jaw.

Bard blinked as the man went down for the count.

"Whoa," he marveled, just as surprised as his victim as he looked down at the metal that incased his knuckles.

Another attacker took advantage of the cowboy's momentary distraction and arced his mace at his head. Bard ducked under the wide swipe, but the robed man had swung so hard that it spun him halfway around to where his back was facing the cowboy. Taking a move directly from the pro wrestling he used to watch so much, Bard gripped the man around the waist, popped his hips, fell backwards and flung him over his head as hard as he could. The attacker flew through the air and collapsed into two more of his accomplices.

His adrenaline pumping hard now, Bard catapulted himself back to his feet…just in time to get smacked in the forehead with a mace.

**WHAM!**

The cowboy's blue eyes half glazed over and he stumbled back on rubbery legs. The guy that had whapped him over the head raised his mace again, ready to deliver the knockout blow…

**ZAF!**

A fiery green star bolt hit him in the chest and he was flung back several feet like a rag doll, the mace falling uselessly from his hands. Sure enough, Starfire hovered above them like a furious goddess with her red hair streaming and her eyes and hands glowing green with energy.

"Retreat!" One of the black robed men barked out. It was probably the leader, but with all the commotion going on, Bard wasn't sure. The attackers disappeared as quietly as they had appeared, dragging their unconscious buddies with them. Starfire moved to go after them.

"No," Zillah stopped her. "Let them go."

"But they must be apprehended and taken to the jail!" Starfire insisted.

"We have no such place here within our community."

"Then-"

"They cannot be taken to the jail of your city either, for they would reveal the location of this place. It is best to let them go."

Starfire looked disappointed, but then she turned to Bard.

"Are you damaged?" She asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," Bard assured her. But he swayed just slightly as he walked over to his hat. He scooped it up, wiped it off a bit and replaced it back on his head before turning to Zillah. "Okay," he said. "Who were those people and why do they want me to get out of Dodge?"

"They are a renegade faction within our community." Zillah explained. "They do not agree with out master on theological grounds, so they decided to sink back into another cave and start a new community. That is all the knowledge I possess of them. They are quite mysterious. We do not even know whom their leader is."

"All right, that answers the 'who' part." Bard admitted. "But what about the whole 'me getting out of Dodge' part?"

"Yes," Starfire seconded. "Why would these men wish to attack friend Bard?"

"That is a question you must ask my master." Zillah told him. "Now, I must take Koriand'r to suitable quarters and then I shall escort you to him."

Bard cocked an eyebrow under his hat, and regretted it as soon as he did it. Pain laced through his head from the mace shot earlier. Luckily, he was able to conceal it from the two girls.

"Who?" He asked. "Who is, er, Kor-ran-door?"

"Koriand'r," Starfire corrected him in a soft voice. "That-that is my true name."

"I apologize." Zillah told the Tamaranean. "Did you wish to keep your identity a secret?"

"I-I suppose not." Starfire answered her. "Your revelation…simply surprised me."

"Don't worry about it, Star." Bard put a comforting hand on her shoulder and winked at her, which caused another bolt of pain to shoot up into his head. "You know _my_ real name, right?"

Starfire locked eyes with him and, after a moment, she smiled.

"That _is_ true, isn't it?"

"Sure it is, we-"

Zillah cleared her throat.

"It is time for us to be on our way." She said to them curtly.

Bard nodded at her and removed his hand from Starfire's shoulder. He did notice, however, that Zillah placed herself firmly between him and Starfire as she led them. He couldn't see the mystic's face, but he would have bet his bottom dollar that it was tinted green.

Raven, to put it mildly, was _not_ in a good mood. Perhaps fifteen minutes after leaving at her half brother's request, she returned to the roof to check up on them…Only to find that Bard, Starfire and the pretentious, purple robed brat were gone. At first she thought that perhaps there had been some foul play on the behalf of Zillah, but she quickly disregarded that theory. Both Bard and Starfire were very capable fighters, and even if Zillah could overpower the two of them somehow, the affair certainly would not have been an quiet one. So the only reasonable explanation was that Starfire and Bard had left with her willing. And that thought set Raven's blood to boiling.

Starfire was supposed to contact her via communicator if something came up, but Raven didn't blame the naïve, emotional redhead. The subterfuge, she was sure, had been entirely the doing of her no good brother. Starfire would never hide anything from her…but Bard certainly would.

But that wasn't the only thing that infuriated her as she floated down the hallway in Titans Tower. Zillah had insulted her before. That hadn't really bothered her, since she saw the girl as simply an delusional, religious fanatic. What had bothered was the fact that Bard hadn't defended her in the slightest. True, Raven admitted to herself, she probably didn't need his help, but his silence had given the impression that…he had actually agreed with her!

Raven shook her head stubbornly. She couldn't allow herself to grow close to _anybody_, not even her own brother. So, obviously, she didn't care what Bard thought of her. She didn't care.

She didn't care.

She didn't care.

_She didn't care!_

**POP!**

Cyborg and Beast Boy came around the corner of the hallway at that exact moment, and the former was holding a popped basketball.

"Aw, man!" Beast Boy whined. "You ruined the basketball, Raven!"

"Sorry," she muttered, though she didn't put much feeling into it. Instead, she was concentrating mostly on continuing down the hallway and getting away from the two of them as quickly as possible.

"Hey, Raye!" Cyborg called after her. "Me and Beast Boy were thinking 'bout asking Bard if he wanted to play some ball. You don't know where is, do ya?"

As if an invisible wind had somehow picked up out of nowhere, Raven's hair spun and fluttered about her face.

"Dahhhhhh!"

"Ahhhhhhh!"

**CR-CRASH!**

Beast Boy and Cyborg were blown back by an explosion of dark energy and hit hard against the wall of the hallway. After shaking the cobwebs out, they looked up and stared, dumbfounded, at Raven.

"…."

"…"

"….Don't ever call me 'Raye'."

"Please Bard, seat yourself." Brother Blood told him after nodding Zillah away.

The two of them were in Brother Blood's house, which sat on an island in the middle of an underground lake. The house was built with the same architecture as the rest of the small city, but it was made out of smooth, glossy limestone. Alien, to be sure, but beautiful all the same.

"I was attacked, you know." Bard tried to say as nonchalantly as possible after taking his seat.

Brother Blood didn't look surprised at all at that. Instead, he simply shook his head regrettably.

"I was afraid that might happen." He said. "However, you are quite the warrior, so I felt I had no need to worry for you safety."

"Thanks, a lot." Bard muttered dryly under his breath, but then he got down to business. "Zillah told me they were renegades that started a new community down her because they didn't agree with you on religious matters. Is that right?"

"It was closer to a political matter." Brother Blood corrected. "But besides that, what you say is the truth."

"What's the big disagreement?"

"It mainly has to do with how we treat nonbelievers." Brother Blood explained. "My sect simply attempts to convert them. Theirs, however, wish but to exterminate them."

Bard's eyes widened.

"So that's why they attacked me?" He asked. "Because they thought I was an nonbeliever?"

Brother Blood shook his head.

"I am afraid not, Bard." He answered. "They wished to expulse you because…of my plans for you."

Bard's eyebrow shot up again and, once again also, pain laced through his head. He had to stop doing that…

"And what are your plans for me?"

"I suppose now is as opportune a time as any to tell you." Brother Blood admitted. "My son, Sebastion, is not fit to lead my people when I am gone, and I am afraid I will not be around much longer."

Bard's eyes narrowed slightly.

"You're sick?"

Brother Blood shook his head.

"It has to do with the curse." He said sadly. "Before each Brother Blood's one hundredth birthday…he will be killed by his son."

Bard let out an involuntary gasp.

"However," Brother Blood continued. "It is almost always an accident. That is why I did not wish to tell Sebastion about it. I do not want him to feel guilt."

"So why can't Sebastion rule here when you're gone?" Bard wanted to know.

"His faith…is twisted. He feels that subverting nonbelievers should not be a subtle thing. Also, he also yearns to establish a settlement in the world above. Both of those things go against what this community stands for."

"All right. Who's going to rule when you gone, then?"

Brother Blood simply looked at him calmly.

"…."

"…"

"…"

"…You've got to be kidding!" Bard burst out. "I'm a superhero! I don't have time for-"

"Being a superhero is not your true calling, Bard." Brother Blood said to him gently. "You are a man of God. And thus, it is your responsibility to look over his children."

Bard slid his shaded glasses off his face and wearily rubbed the bridge of his nose. All of this was coming too fast…

"So…the prophecy about Raven was something to simply lure me here?"

"In part, perhaps." Brother Blood replied. "There is no prophecy. However, my people have long suspected that Raven may well indeed be the accursed one." He paused. "My people need a leader, Bard. Someone young, intelligent, charismatic and faithful. I believe that person should be you."

"I…" Bard floundered. " I need some time to think about it."

"Or course," Brother Blood agreed quickly, standing up. "I'm sure this is coming at you as quite a shock. I'll have Zillah escort you back to your building. Keep in mind, though, that my one hundredth birthday is tomorrow."

Bard felt a chill as he left Brother Blood's abode.

That evening, Brother Blood sat in a wooden tub of warm water, his shawl draped over a chair and multicolored curtains hung up around him to maintain his privacy. Suddenly, Brother Blood stopped washing himself and jerked his head up.

"Who's there?" He called out sharply, but then his voice relaxed. "Oh, it's you. What do you need-"

A knife flashed as it arced downward. As the last vestiges of life left Brother Blood's body, the water in which he sat began to turn crimson. The murderer walked out calmly, but he did not leave alone.

He took the reputed shawl of Christ along with him.


	38. Thicker Than Blood

"_Dude, do you have a patent on those two words or somethin'? One of these days I'd like to hear the alarm go off and hear you say 'Titans, danger!'. Or maybe: 'Titans, bad stuff is happening'!" - Beast Boy_

_**CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT**_

_**THICKER THAN BLOOD**_

Bard lay wide awake that night, or whatever you could call night inside a cavern. Zillah had provided him and Starfire with down filled cots, and he was laying in one of them now. On the other hand, Starfire had fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. Bard figured that the Tamaranean probably had an on/off switch on the back of her neck or something. He sure wished _he_ had one.

The most comfortable bed the cowboy had ever owned was, well, his bed in Titans Tower. And this cot couldn't touch it with a ten foot, no, make that a _twenty _foot, pole. But it wasn't so uncomfortable that he shouldn't be able to go to sleep. No, the reason he couldn't sleep was simple: He had too many damned things on his mind.

The proposal Brother Blood had given him earlier was a profound one and, try though he might, he couldn't make a decision. Ever since he had arrived in Jump City and joined the Titans, he had never believed that he was a superhero. When he found out he had powers, it just seemed like the right thing to do. But now he wasn't so sure, especially with Brother Blood's words swirling around over and over in his head.

"_Being a superhero is not your true calling, Bard. You are a man of God. And thus, it is your responsibility to look over his children."_

That statement rang with truth. But couldn't he help God's children just as well, if not more, than by protecting them from evil as a superhero? He did not see himself as a minister giving sermons or a leader holding a community together. But still…

Finally, Bard sat up in frustration. He wasn't going to sleep anytime soon, so he might as well go outside and get some fresh…er, and stretch his legs. He got up and left the room quietly to avoid disturbing Starfire. Just because he couldn't sleep shouldn't mean Starfire needed to lose any of _her_ sleep, right?

Once outside, Bard looked up and dark rock filled his vision. This cave was nice enough, Bard supposed, but for a man who considered the mountains as his home as much or perhaps even more than any building he had ever lived in, he liked to be able to look up and see the sky.

Bard started walking down the rocky, seemingly primitive street. There were very dim lampposts at regular intervals, and he made a note to himself to ask how they were powered. He marveled at the architecture of the buildings again and the complete trust everyone had in the other people in the community. The windows of the assorted houses were simply square holes in the rock walls, with no curtains to be found. If one really wanted to, they could easily peek in at everyone's private life.

That got Bard to thinking at he continued along aimlessly. The people here seemed almost alien…and now he knew why. These people, more than any other living being the cowboy had ever seen, personified peace. There was the renegade faction, of course, but the people in _this_ community seemed totally unaffected by it. The people he had seen walking the streets earlier were silent and moved with a kind of fluid, tranquil grace. He had seen no aggression from these people at all. Despite the relatively small size of the community, it was obvious that Brother Blood was a great leader.

And that's was one of the major factors of his indecision. Even if Bard _did_ accept the burden of leading these people by giving up being a superhero, would he really be able to keep them they way they were now, untouched by the evils that permeated the cities above? There was a chance, he admitted to himself, but he certainly wasn't very optimistic about it.

Bard wasn't even sure of where exactly he was going until he actually got there. He looked up and saw Brother Blood's house, and realized that's where he had been going all along. The visage that filled his eyes was one of perfect peace. The glossy, limestone walls of Brother Blood's house reflected the dim light from it's small island, and the water in the pond surrounding it was completely calm and as smooth at glass. The delicate, narrow bridge leading to it over the water completed the tranquil scene.

He took his time crossing the bridge. The peace of this place calmed and relaxed him. He hadn't been a Teen Titan for a long time, but he did enjoy time away from stressful events; simple events like barreling down the streets on his Harley after a crazy biker or getting kicked in the face with platform shoes or getting stabbed with a knife or being threatened with castration…

He smiled ruefully to himself and shook his head. In the short time he'd fought along side the Titans, he already had enough incredible stories to tell his grandchildren. Of course, that was considering the fact that he lived long enough to _become_ a grandfather…

"I wish I knew what you were thinking."

Bard's head jerked up. The voice was coming from inside the house.

"You were so blind! You wanted us to hide from the evils of the world down here in these caves like cowardly moles! But you can't hide from evil, father. You must _destroy it._"

Curious, Bard gave a brief, customary knock on the door and opened it up…Just in time to see the grisly, horrific scene inside. Brother Blood was lying in a wooden tub, his nakedness hidden by the red blood that clouded the water and poured from the huge piercing in his chest. And standing beside the tub, a dripping and bloody knife in one hand and Brother Blood's magical shawl in the other, was his son Sebastion.

The cowboy didn't wretch or even turn away from the violence before him. Unfortunately, he had seen this kind of thing before…too many times. Instead, he simply looked up and locked eyes with Sebastion. What he saw in them, or perhaps what he _didn't_ see in them, was surprising. There was no fear of being discovered, and no regret for what he had done. But there was also no hint of malice. They were filled with a kind of implacable, resolute determination. It was like murdering his father was only a chore that needed to be done.

"Congratulations, Bard." he said evenly. "You get to be an unwilling, unsung martyr."

Then, the boy's eyes suddenly changed. Now they showed surprise, horror and righteous indignation all at the same time. He dropped the bloody knife and-

"_HELP!"_ He screamed at the top of his lungs.

Bard closed his eyes in dread.

_You have GOT to be kidding me…_

**SLAM!**

At least a dozen men charged into the room from a back door and formed up around Sebastion to stare in horror at Brother Blood's murdered body and then to look up to stare accusing at Bard. They wore the same long, white robes as the rest of the citizens of the community, but there was a red cross stitched into the garments just over the heart. Probably a badge of the honor guard or something…

But what Bard noticed the most about them was that they were all armed with stout, stone maces that were quite similar to the weapons the black robed, ninja liked people from the renegade faction were armed with when they attacked him earlier.

"He killed my father!" Sebastion cried, and fabricated tears filled his eyes as he pointed accusatorily at Bard. "Seize him!"

The warrior monks all took a step towards Bard menacingly and, at the exact same time, the cowboy took a cautious step back. He was in the dark to what he should do, probably because he'd never been in this situation before. It wasn't everyday you were framed for murder, after all. A few possible solutions came to him, like denouncing Sebastion or fighting his way out of here, but neither of them panned out. Sebastion was Brother Blood's son and the guard's didn't know about the curse. There was no way they'd believe him. And he didn't really want to hurt the guards, since they were just being manipulated by Sebastion.

So, what did that leave…?

Bard spun on the heel of his cowboy boot, ripped open the front door and tore off as fast as he could across the bridge.

"After him!" Sebastion yelled. "He must pay for this vile sin!"

As Bard ran across the bridge and into the city with his boots clanking against the rock, he didn't even have to turn around to know that the guards were following him. But he was an incredibly fast runner and, more than that, he knew it. He soon outdistanced the men chasing him, but that didn't mean he was out of the woods yet. When he finally arrived at the building Zillah had given to him and Starfire, he was totally out of breath.

_God, I have to quit smoking…_

Panting heavily, he quickly enter the house.

"Starfire," he whispered through his heavy breathing, taking her gently by the shoulders and shaking her. "Get up! We have to get out of here!"

"Mmmm," Starfire muttered and rolled over, obviously still asleep.

"C'mon, Starfire. Get up!"

"Robin," she murmured dreamily. "I am happy to see you as well, but why, might I ask, are you wearing a pink robe?"

Bard stared at her funny, but then he shook his head and nudged her more forcibly Finally, her emerald eyes popped open..

"Jonny?"

Bard blinked. That had caught him by surprise.

"Uh, yeah." He said. "But I need you to get up. We gotta get out of here."

"But why must we leave?" Starfire wanted to know.

"These people think I killed Brother Blood." He answer quickly. "Now let's go!"

Starfire gasped and brought both of her hands to her mouth.

Bard mentally kicked himself for telling her that. He loved Starfire like a sister, but they didn't have time for surprise. They had to get out of here!

As if to reiterate that point, there came a heavy slamming from the door.

**BAM! BAM! BAM!**

"Open up! We know you're in there!" A male voice called through the door, probably a guard. "Come out and pay for your crime!"

"Sonuva-" Bard half cursed under his breath. "Now what?"

Starfire's head cocked to the side.

"Do we not posses more than ample force between us to overcome these assailants?" She asked.

"Yeah," Bard admitted. "But I don't want to hurt these people unless we have to. They don't know what they're doing is wrong."

"Then how will we escape?"

Bard thought about it for a moment, scratching his cheek.

"Say, Starfire." He finally asked speculatively. "Exactly how strong are those star bolts of yours?"

"Well…"

**BAM! BAM! BAM!**

The lead guard outside the building was getting impatient.

**BAM! BAM! BAM!**

"If you have any righteousness left in your soul, you'll come out now!" He bellowed.

But there was nothing but silence from within the building. Finally, the lead guard's frustration got the better of him.

"Out of the way," he barked to his companions as he backed up from the door. Setting his feet, he charged with a lowered shoulder to batter the door down…

**ZAF…BOOM!**

The charging guard slipped and fell on his face from the explosion. But the star bolt hadn't been aimed at him or his companions; it had been aimed at the side wall of the building instead. The rock wall exploded outwards, and the girl and the murderer flew out. The long haired killer even had the audacity to hum a tune as he escaped!

The guard sat up wearily and shook his head in disgust. He had let the man who killed his master get away…

Bard could feel his half sister's burning presence on top of Titans Tower before the building even came into view, and dread filled his stomach like lead. This was _not_ going to be fun…

"_Where…have…you…been_?" The dark sorceress uttered at him as soon as he and Starfire touched down.

Bard sweat dropped and coughed nervously.

"Starfire," he said to her, though he couldn't look away from Raven's flashing eyes. "Why don't you go down and let Robin know where we've been?" He suggested.

"V-very well, Bard." She replied. Giving both Raven and Bard a nervous look, she timidly walked away and entered the elevator.

"So," Bard said, taking off his hat to nervously scratch his hair. "I'm guessing you want an explanation."

"…No." Raven turned away and began to mediate as if he wasn't even there.

Bard blinked.

"What?"

"How you spend your time is your own affair, as long as it doesn't jeopardize the team." Her voice was cold and emotionless, as if she really were the Ice Queen everyone thought she was.

"Okay," Bard said, obviously confused. "Who are you and what did you do with Raven?"

"I made a mistake." Raven answered mysteriously. "And now I'm fixing it."

Bard's eyebrow shot up. He was even more confused now.

"What mistake?" He wanted to know.

"…"

"I'm not moving an inch until you tell me." Bard told her adamantly. "And I'm your brother, so you know how stubborn I can be."

"It's _you_, okay?" Raven spit out.

"Me?"

"I can't get close to anyone." She explained, and Bard remembered her saying that more than once before. "Whether it be a lover or a family member. Even my friendship with the other Titans is tenuous at best."

"Let me get this straight." Bard said, holding up his hands. "I reckon what your saying is that it's wrong for you to love your own _brother?_"

"Like," Raven corrected quickly. "Like."

"You're scared of that word, aren't you?" Bard somehow saw directly to the heart of the matter. "Just like you're afraid of Trigon."

"I don't _do_ fear."

"Bullshit!" Bard exclaimed, suddenly angry. "You're afraid of your emotions, almost as much as you're scared of Trigon!"

"I am _not_ afraid of my, _our_, father." Raven grated. "And I arrest my emotions to protect all of your from him, not because I fear them."

"Look, I don't want protection. I want my sister!" Bard told her passionately. "And if Trigon pops up, I'll take him to the woodshed and push him back down to where he belongs!"

"You _can't_. No one can."

Bard opened his mouth…

"And don't talk to me about your mythical god." Raven cut him off. "I don't want to hear it."

"I'm gonna tell you the honest truth." Bard said to her directly, deciding not to use the phrase '_God's _honest truth'. "I'd rather know the real you for one day and face all the hell, fire and brimstone Trigon can fling at me than know you as the Ice Princess for the rest of my life."

Raven's purple eyes suddenly softened and something, Bard didn't know what, flickered deep inside of them. But then those two orbs hardened again. Raven turned her back to him and began to walk away briskly.

"You just don't understand…"

As his sister descended in the elevator, Bard hung his head low and sighed.

_If he could only make her see!_

Inside Titans Tower, Bard walked down a hallway with his hands thrust deeply in the front pockets of his jeans and his head down. But as the cowboy walked by Superboy's room, the door slid open and none other than the Boy of Steel himself, wearing his trademark blue and red jumpsuit with his black leather jacket framing the Superman emblem on his chest, stepped out. Bard stopped and Superboy stared at him.

"What?" Bard finally demanded.

"Copycat,"

Bard's eyebrow came up.

As if to answer the unspoken question, Superboy reached into his jacket, pulled out his red mirrored shades, twirled them coolly on the tip of his finger before pushing them smoothly onto his face.

Bard suddenly understood. He meant the new glasses Cyborg had made him.

"Yeah, all right." He muttered before trudging on by. He didn't have the will power to argue.

Superboy immediately knew something was wrong. Bard was the one person he could _always_ get a good fight out of.

"All right," he said, trailing along. "What's up?"

"Nothing,"

"Yeah, right." Superboy retorted sarcastically. Then his face scrunched up as if he were thinking. "Ha! It's Raven, isn't it?"

Bard swiveled quickly around to face him.

"How in the _blue_ hell did you know that?"

Superboy shrugged, but his boyish grin almost split his face.

"I guess I'm just good like that!" He paused. "Besides, Raven just came through here looking like a thundercloud…just like you!"

"…."

"So what's the matter? Raven wouldn't share?" Superboy joked.

Bard shook his head wryly.

_If only he knew how close that was to the truth…_

Almost as soon as Superboy and Bard entered the main room of the tower, the cowboy heard the last two words he wanted to hear at that moment.

"Titans, trouble!"

"Dude, do you have a patent on those two words or somethin'?" Beast Boy half demanded/half joked at Robin. "One of these days I'd like to hear the alarm go off and hear you say 'Titans, danger!'. Or maybe: 'Titans, bad stuff is happening'!"

Robin glared at him.

"Er, just saying…" The little changeling sweat dropped nervously.

"What's going on?" Bard asked reluctantly.

"Not sure," Robin answered, typing away furiously while looking at the screen. "It just says that there's some kind of disturbance downtown."

"That's not vague," Raven droned dryly.

"Well, whatever is, I'm sure the Teen Titans can take care of it." Robin answered. "Titans, go!"

As Bard barreled down the streets of Jump City on his Harley, his mind was on anything but what he was heading towards. A lot had happened in the last twenty four hours, and all those events swirled around in his head.

Raven sat at the top of his thoughts. His sister was definitely an enigma, and he wondered if all brothers went through this with their siblings. Because of Trigon, Raven would never show him her true face, and that gnawed endlessly at him. He had found his only family after all these years and he wouldn't even get a chance to really know her! He tried to think about something else, but his other problems were just as bad.

Sebastion had framed him for his father's murder, and he had a feeling that he wouldn't rest until he fulfilled the promise of making him a martyr. Brother Blood had been a peaceful leader, but Bard had a feeling Sebastion was going to cause trouble…

And the cowboy couldn't forget about Jinx, Kitten and Slade. The ominous man flirted around the shadows; never in the limelight, but always there. Waiting.

Absently, Bard hit the right turn blinker and turned his Harley down another street.

**WHAM!**

Bard saw nothing but a blur of red and white before something plowed into him He and his attacker was knocked to the ground as his bike skidded sparks before it hit the curb and stopped. Meanwhile, Bard and his attacker rolled across the pavement. The two finally came to a half with Bard on top. The cowboy finally got a good look at him.

"Sebastion?" He gasped.

Brother Blood's son had really changed. His eyes were now blood red, and they looked completely frightening on his darkly colored skin and his pale white hair that fell into his face. He wore a regal, white tunic and a red cape.

**HONK! HONK!**

Bard realized that he and Sebastion were still in the middle of the street. And when he looked up, a pair of bright headlights reflected off his new glasses.

_Aw, shi-!_

Him and Sebastion tumbled over each other again, just barely getting out of the way of the car. This time, Sebastion had Bard pinned under him.

"Not Sebastion," he grated at the cowboy. "Brother Blood."

Suddenly, there was an intense pain in Bard's neck.

"Augh! What the…?" Bard's eyes had widened in astonishment. Sebastion…Brother Blood, had bit into his neck! "Get…offa…me!"

Bard planted both his cowboy boots hard into Brother Blood's chest, shoved him off and made it quickly to his feet. Brother Blood regained his footing at the same time, dark red blood dripping from his chin.

"Ah," the former Sebastion intoned. "You really are quite powerful. If you would have used all your strength, you could have destroyed me and my followers when we attacked you."

The memory of the black robed mace wielders entered Bard's mind.

"That was you?"

"Of course," Brother Blood told him obviously. "I knew my father wanted you to take his place instead of me…and I could not allow that."

"But-"

"Feel my righteous fury!" Brother Blood pointed a finger, and a thick, blue lightening bolt arced at the cowboy.


	39. Crimson

"_And stop trying to be clever. You don't have the brains for it." - Commissioner Walker_

_**CHAPTER THIRTY NINE**_

_**CRIMSON**_

Bard and the newly titled Brother Blood stood facing each other, perhaps ten feet apart, right in the middle of the four way intersection near the Downtown District. Traffic had come to a stop on all sides and, with the chill, autumn breeze fluttering Brother Blood's dark red cape and Bard's black, cross adorned trench coat, it looked for all the world that the two of them were having an old-fashioned, albeit strange, wild west stare down. Shadows from car headlights, streetlights and even the full moon above them danced across Brother Blood's face and Bard's blood still dripped from his chin as he pointed his finger at the cowboy as if it were an loaded gun.

"Feel my righteous fury!"

A thick bolt of blue lightning erupted from the tip of Brother Blood's outstretched finger and streaked directly at Bard. But the cowboy dove forward out of the way just in the nick of time. The electricity's victim, instead, turned out to be a public drop box.

**BOOM!**

The dark blue, metal mailbox seemed to explode from the inside out. It was torn apart by the explosion, and rocketing shrapnel peppered the sides of the stopped and parked vehicles like gunfire. It was a small miracle in and of itself that no one was hurt - or worse. Bard's eyes widened in disbelief from behind his darkened lenses.

"How-?

"My father never had the foresight or the courage to unleash the true power of the eternal shawl. But I do!"

'_Shawl?'_ Bard thought to himself. _'But he's not wearing-'_ The cowboy stopped himself and looked closer at Brother Blood. He did feel the power of the shawl on the boy, but how- Of course! Somehow, he had converted the robe into a red cape!

"And the power of the shawl allowed me to take the essence of _your_ power." Brother Blood continued. He paused and meaningfully wiped Bard's blood from his chin with the back of his hand. "Your _blood!_"

Bard's eyes narrowed in consternation. He knew there was something horrifically alarming about Brother Blood's candid admission, but whatever it was eluded him. Then again, that might have been because Brother Blood didn't give him a whole lot of time to think about it.

"Hraugh!"

An unnatural wind whipped Brother Blood's crimson cape around his body as he rocketed forward on his conjured up current of air. He collided with the cowboy with the force of an NFL tackle and Bard's cowboy hat was flung off his head from the impact.

**SHWHW-CRASH!**

The two of them flew through the air as one, landed on the hood of a car and, with Bard taking the brunt of it, smashed through the glass windshield of the vehicle.

Bard grit his teeth in pain and with a kind of frustrated fury. Not only was Brother Blood trying to kill him, but the crazy, power hungry religious nut was using his own powers to do it!

"Rrrrrragh!"

He summoned up a wind of his own and, grappling with each other, the column of air lifted him and Brother Blood straight up. Brother Blood struggled against him, but Bard was the bigger and stronger of the two. He gripped Brother Blood by the front of his tunic, pivoted in midair and slung him back down.

**CRUNCH!**

Brother Blood smashed hard into the roof of the car. So hard, in fact, that every window, save for the windshield Bard had gone through earlier, shattered and spilled out into the street.

"The just don't make cars like they used to, huh Sebastion?"

Sensing victory, Bard dove down at him with his adamantine covered fist drawn back as far as it would go, poised for the finishing blow.

"My name is _Brother Blood!_"

**CHING!**

Bard was just barely able to swoop out of the way to avoid being impaled by the spike of ice that Brother Blood had chucked at him. With wide eyes, he watched as gravity took its toll on the ice spike as it hit the pavement and shattered into chunks.

'_I didn't even know I could do that…'_

Brother Blood pulled himself up out of the rubble, brushed the front of his tunic off and flew back up at Bard with murder in his eyes.

"Hah!"

Almost smirking, Bard waited patiently for Brother Blood to reach him. Just at the point of contact, the cowboy sidestepped Brother Blood like a bullfighter, grabbed a handful of his cape, spun and flung the vampire right back down into the roof of the car again.

**CRASH!**

"You might have my powers," Bard called down at him with a toothy, vicious grin as the wind that held him up whipped at his long hair without his hat. "But that doesn't mean you can fight!"

Brother Blood's dark red eyes flashed angrily as he picked himself back up, but then he returned Bard's grin bloodily. His face was all the more horrifying because Bard wasn't sure if it was his own blood or if he had busted open Brother Blood's mouth.

"You're right," The pale haired vampire said in a strangely smug tone. "It doesn't…yet."

Before Bard could even blink, Brother Blood was back in the air, retreating.

"Oh, no you don't…" Bard growled under his breath before flying off after him. Brother Blood went out of sight for just a moment as he zoomed around a high building. Bard was right behind him, but when he turned the corner, Brother Blood was gone.

Bard gritted his teeth angrily and punched his fist hard into his palm.

"…Damn."

"That black ensemble is so last _Fall!_"

Robin swept the legs out from under a black robed attacker, turned and backhanded another across the face.

"Good one!" Cyborg called over to the Boy Wonder, even as he smashed open the front of a fire hydrant with his metallic heel. "Looks like ya'll are all washed up!"

A thick stream of water rushed out of the hydrant and bowled over three cultists.

"Dude!" Beast Boy quipped. "That was _so_ cliché!"

"Heh, you're one to talk, B!" Superboy grinned before solidly walloping a cultist across the jaw.

"Are these black garbed assailants ignorant of our battle prowess?" Starfire added.

"Obviously not," Raven droned.

Robin smiled to himself as he jump kicked a cultist, catapulted off of him, spun and socked another dead in the temple with a gloved fist. It made the Titans leader glad to see his teammates in such high spirits, especially in the midst of an battle. The Boy Wonder remembered how Batman's brooding nature sometimes implanted an pessimistic and uncertain attitude into him and Batgirl. And Robin never wanted his teammates to feel that.

He did realize, however, that his dark mentor _had_ rubbed off on him. It was only natural, really. Although Robin always tried to remain upbeat and resolute and strong for his teammates, he knew that he was not perfect. He was hard on himself, and sometimes the anger he forced into himself made him reclusive and brooding; Just like Batman…

Suddenly, Robin jerked himself out of his thoughts as he felt a peculiar prickling on the back of his neck; A feeling that announced that some evil presence was watching him. He quickly swiveled around to scan the dark shadows of an alleyway, but no one was there…

**SWOOOOSH-CHOMP!**

"Ahhhhhh!"

"Robin!" Starfire turned and yelled in concern after hastily tossing a star bolt.

A red caped figured had leapt on Robin's back and had bit deeply into his neck. Robin staggered to the left, to the right, then fell down to one knee.

"Haugh!" Starfire whapped Robin's attacker with all of her Tamaranean strength, knocking him off Robin and down onto the pavement.

The caped man rolled to a stop, leapt to his feet and stared intensely at Starfire with red eyes.

"S-Sebastion?" She gasped.

"The name is Brother _Blood!"_ As if to emphasize that last word, Brother Blood formed a roaring fireball in his hand and tossed it hard at the red head. Starfire's eyes widened, but she was too surprised to dodge out of the way.

**BOOM!**

"Augh!"

The fireball hit her dead in the chest and, with her purple outfit smoking, she plummeted to the ground.

"Starfire!" Robin called out. He weakly shook his head to clear the cobwebs and climbed to his feet. He begin to lope over to her when-

**BAM!**

Brother Blood leapt into the air, spun, and back kicked Robin in the chest. The same kick Robin had spent months, years even, of perfecting.

"Take this! HA!"

Brother Blood dodged Cyborg's first heavy swipe. He ducked the second one as well, but in a flash his hands came up, grabbed Cyborg's outstretched hand and, using his own body as fulcrum, threw him down hard into the pavement.

"Hey, you!" Beast Boy had finally noticed him. Brother Blood turned and fell into a Kung-Fu stance, but then he seemed to change his mind.

"Followers," he bellowed. "Retreat!"

The black robed fighters disappeared into the shadows as quickly as they appeared, and Brother Blood took to the sky.

"Not on my watch, buddy!" Superboy took off after him-

**ZAP-CRACK!**

The lightening bolt hit Superboy dead on, and the teen fell out of the air like a bird with it's wings cut off.

"That…hurt." He groaned.

"Who was that guy?" Beast Boy wondered.

"I don't know," Robin said between gritted teeth with one hand on his chest and the other on his wounded neck. "But I aim to find out."

Later, back at Titans Tower…

"So let me get this straight," Beast Boy said after Bard had given them all his explanation. "Brother Blood is a cult-leading vampire, and now he's badass?"

"I don't know if I'd say _badass_." Bard disagreed.

"That's because you were fighting him when he only had _your_ superpowers!"

"…" Bard frowned.

"You shoulda seen him once he sucked up Robin's fighting talent!" Beast Boy continued, obviously not noticing Bard's discontent.

"So?"

"_So,_ don' you get it? This Brother Blood guy is Robin with superpowers. _Robin with superpowers!_"

"He's dangerous, sure." Bard shrugged. "But there's seven of us. It's not like he can take us all."

"…."

"…."

"Er, right?" Bard followed up uncertainly.

"…"

"…"

"Er…am I missing something here?"

"Bard's right," Robin stepped forward finally. "All of us, together, can take him down!"

The Boy Wonder's statement didn't seem to hearten anyone much.

"Pssh! What else could do wrong?" Beast Boy demanded.

**BRIIING! BRIIING!**

The Titans alarm went off, and everyone turned to glare at the simpering and sweat dropping changeling.

"Pure coincidence!" He defended himself shrilly.

"You are liken unto a brother to me, Beast Boy." Starfire told him sweetly. "But perhaps it would be better for you to, how they say, 'shut the up'?"

Beast Boy sweat dropped again.

Robin quickly typed something into the keyboard, and Commissioner Walker's grizzled, unshaven face filled the large monitor.

"We're in deep shit." He told them brusquely.

"If nothing else," Bard said. "I reckon he knows how to get straight to the meat and potatoes of the conversation."

"Show some damn respect!" Commissioner Walker snapped at the cowboy. "And stop trying to be clever. You don't have the brains for it."

A throbbing vein bulged out from Bard's forehead.

"What's the problem, Commissioner?" Robin asked quickly.

"You know Verilli Verquez?"

"Verilli Verquez," Robin mused, absently stroking his chin. "The biggest drug trafficker in South America for the last fifteen years, only no one's been able to get enough evidence against him to prosecute him."

"I asked if you knew him, not for his damned biography!"

This time, it was Robin's vein's turn to throb.

"What about him?" The Boy Wonder tried to keep a civil tone, but his jaw was clenched. Commissioner Walker could get under _anyone's _skin.

"Last week, the National Guard brought him into custody." He reported.

"And you're keeping the media out of it?" Robin guessed. He hadn't heard it announced on the news, after all.

"Hell yeah!" Commissioner Walker almost exploded. "Those slime balls ain't good for nothing!"

"What does this have to do with us?" Raven asked directly, stepping forward.

"Verilli's being held here in the city."

"And you want us to baby sit?" Raven asked.

"Hell no!" Walker spit out. "You can't even baby sit yourselves! The problem is the fact that some nut, probably the guy on our side of the business that misses his coo-coo powder, has hired some mercenary whackjob to try to bust him out."

"Coo-coo powder?" Beast Boy mimicked.

"You know what the hell I mean!" The Commissioner yelled, but then, with a great deal of will power, he calmed himself back down. "Anyway, this guy, he calls himself Crimson Wolf-"

"Why does he call himself that?" Superboy interrupted.

"Probably cause it sounds scary!" Walker bellowed. "Now, can you stop asking dumbass question and let me finish?"

"…" Vein number three.

"Good, now…where was I?" Commissioner Walker paused. "So, Crimson Wolf, _named because it sounds scary_, has been calling down here to the department with bomb threats. He says he's gonna set off one bomb a day until Verilli's released."

Starfire gasped.

"But there are hundreds of places in the city where a bomb could…" The eyes of Robin's eye mask widened in horror.

"I know," Walker lit up a cigarette and, for some reason, Bard suddenly got a craving for one himself. "That's why I'm calling ya'll in."

"Do you have any info on Crimson Wolf?"

"Everybody from Britain's MI-6 to Israel's Mossad to Interpol had a dossier on him, but none of them know a damn thing about the guy. But, as far as we know, this is the first time the punk's taken a job here in the U.S."

"If this Crimson Wolf guy carries through with his threats, will you be forced to release Verilli?" Robin asked.

"Probably," Walker said around his smoking cigarette. "If the city doesn't feel safe, they'll demand that we let the no good bastard go. That's why I need your help."

"We'll do all we can, Commissioner!" Robin assured him.

"You'd better," Walker growled before the screen went black.

"_Good morning, I'm Tammie Johan and the time is 5:34 AM. This is a special report. Ten minutes ago, we received a report of an explosion on a railroad tram here in Jump City. There were ten people killed, and seven more injured. Now, live on the scene is TBEP's own, Mr. Jacob Genarie. Jacob?"_

A pause.

"_Good morning, Tammie, although it seems callous to say such a thing with the horrific scene behind me. At around five 'o' clock this morning, there was an explosion on the tram here in the Tech District. It…Well, why don't you take a look for yourself. I'm sure no words could adequately describe what lies behind me."_

The reported stepped out of the way and the camera zoomed in on the tram. Or perhaps more accurately, what was _left_ of the tram. It was blackened husk. Every single window had been blown out and the metal support frames were twisted grotesquely. It was a wonder that anyone had survived at all.

Robin sat in the dark main room of Titans Tower on the couch with his black cape draped solemnly over his shoulders and the lights from the television screen flickering across his stony face. Finally, he stiffly clicked off the television with the remote and sank into the darkness.

Out of all criminal acts, terrorism was the hardest to defend against. The U.S Government could certainly testify to that. All terrorists ultimately worked through fear. He did not achieve his ends by setting bombs, but by the fear the death and destruction of them instilled into people. Even men who would never be afraid for themselves _would_ be afraid for their families. And right now, Crimson Wolf's goal was to have Commissioner Walker release Verilli Verquez.

And that brought up another matter in the Boy Wonder's mind. Why would the JCPD be holding Verquez, one of the most notorious drug traffickers of all time, in the first place? Verilli was a federal criminal, so shouldn't the FBI be handling it?

Robin frowned in the darkness. There was more going on here than met the eye.

Perhaps half an hour later, Robin had assembled all the Titans in the main room.

"This better be important." Beast Boy complained wearily, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "I could be asleep right now, ya know!"

"Crimson Wolf just ignited a bomb in a tram." Robin said directly to him, his voice scathing. "Ten people were killed, and seven more might not live long enough to see the sun rise again. Is _that_ important enough for you to lose a little sleep?"

The green changeling bit his lower lip guiltily.

"Please do not be so harsh with him, Robin." Starfire told him compassionately. "He was unaware of what had transpired."

Robin nodded briefly, and glanced quickly at Beast Boy as if in apology.

"The point is," he continued. "Is that we have to stop this guy as soon as possible. There's no telling what he'll do next, and to what cost it will inflict on the city."

"Is it wise to concentrate wholly on Crimson Wolf like this?" Raven asked. "Remember, Slade and Brother Blood are still loose on the streets."

"I've thought of that," Robin said. "But we have enough members now to be able to break us up into teams. Bard and Raven will come with me to help track down Crimson Wolf. I need the rest of you to hold down the fort and put down any incidental disturbances."

"We gotcha covered here, Robin." Cyborg told him.

Robin nodded and turned to Raven and Bard.

"All right, let's go."

"Go where?" Bard asked.

"Where else?" Robin replied. "To the scene of the crime to do some detective work."

"I will go prepare breakfast!" Starfire declared when the three of them were gone. And when _she_ was gone, the three remaining teenage boys looked at each other.

"Dudes, am I the only one surprised by the fact that Robin didn't take Starfire with him?" Beast Boy asked the others.

"I know!" Superboy agreed. "I'm new to the team, and even _I_ was shocked!"

"Robin _always_ takes Starfire with him when we split the team up." Cyborg mused. "He must be sick or something…"

Bard was thinking the exact same thing as he and Robin rode the elevator down to the garage. They were alone, since Raven had elected to simply travel down by means of one of her teleporting holes.

"Why didn't you bring Starfire with us?" Bard asked the question a little more bluntly than he meant to.

"I don't always take Starfire with me." Robin defended himself quickly.

"Uh…I didn't accuse you of that." Bard replied. He paused. "But you do, ya know."

Robin sighed and, for the first time Bard could remember, he seemed to lower his guard a bit in front of him.

"I always take Starfire with me because…I want to protect her." He confessed.

"Then why didn't you bring her with us, now?"

"Because this time," Robin explained. "The best way to protect her is to leave her behind. I've got a feeling that, while we're tracking down Crimson Wolf, we're gonna see some…very unpleasant things."

Bard understood immediately. This thing was already bloody and, before it was all said and done, he had a feeling there would be more blood and death to come.

_God help us all…_


	40. Needle In A Haystack

"_If Commissioner Walker values the lives of this city's citizens at all, he will release his prisoner. If he does not, I suggest to the mothers and fathers out there to let their kids eat as much candy as they want tonight, since they might not be eating anything at all tomorrow…or ever again." Crimson Wolf_

_**CHAPTER FORTY**_

_**NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK**_

Raven was already at the scene of the bombing when Bard and Robin pulled up on their motorcycles.

"Goodness," Bard breathed and shook his head in pity after dismounting from his Harley. "There were _people_ in that thing?"

Raven nodded somberly at him.

"We're gonna make Crimson Wolf pay for this…" Robin promised, the resolve evident in his voice as he led them through the already growing throng of curious onlookers towards the ruined tram.

"Hey! I thought I told you punks not to let anyone-oh, it's you." Commissioner Walker barked as the three heroes arrived on the scene. He wore his usual outfit of a white, crumpled dress shirt, a crooked tie and a long, battered, light brown trench coat. "It took you kids long enough to get here."

"Even superheroes have to sleep sometime." Robin looked hard at the blackened wreckage. "Have your men found anything yet?" He asked.

"Haven't had a chance to." Walker told him. "We had to wait for those slowass firemen to put out the fire."

"Mind if we take a look?"

"Be my guest," Commissioner Walker grunted. "Less work for me. But make sure you catch this bastard, though. The casualty rate is already at ten, and if Crimson Wolf has his way, a lot more people than that are gonna die."

"We understand the situation." Robin assured the police chief dismissively before leading Bard and Raven over to the tram.

"All right," Bard said as they stepped into what was left of the tram. "What exactly are we looking for?"

"Anything out of the ordinary." The Boy Wonder told him, even as he knelt down and examined some charred residue with his gloved finger.

'_Besides the blown up tram'_ Bard thought morosely. But nevertheless, he began scanning the interior with his eyes. Charred dust from the explosion was everywhere, but that's not what caught his eye. There was splattered blood, and worse, painted on the windows and lying in pools on what was left of the seats. No wonder Robin didn't want Starfire to see this…

"It looks like the bomb was planted inside." Robin mused, looking around himself. "If it had been planted beneath the tram, I doubt there would be as much dust and debris in here from the explosion. Not to mention it would have probably flipped over the tram, judging from how strong the blast was."

'_The Boy Wonder's a detective, all right.'_

"Where could Wolf plant it in here without anyone noticing?" Bard asked aloud.

"Let me," Raven said, pushing back her hood and stepping forward. She closed her eyes in concentration.

"Well?" Bard asked after a moment.

"He planted the bomb in the fire extinguisher box." Raven nodded. She walked towards the back of the tram and pointed. "There,"

"The box isn't there." Bard said. "But I reckon we should of expected that. The bomb probably blew it to smithereens." He paused. "That explains why there were some survivors, too. The bomb was in the back, so some of the people in the front had a chance, at least, to come out alive."

"I think this was a warning." Raven deadpanned. "The next time, the number of casualties will be higher…and the number of survivors lower."

"Did you pick up anything else?" Robin asked the dark mystic.

"Only that he has very little emotion. He felt no remorse nor joy over his action, only a sense of efficient achievement. He's the best at what he does and, what's worse, he knows it."

"Great," Bard muttered sarcastically under his breath.

"Maybe he's not as good as he thinks he is." Robin declared, kneeling down and scooping something out of the debris.

"What is it?" Bard asked and walked over to get a better look.

"It's the trigger to the bomb." Robin said, a little triumph in his voice. "A C-4 trigger."

"How could the bomb trigger survive the explosion?" Raven wanted to know.

"Look at it," Robin held the trigger out to her. "It's titanium."

Bard's face paled a bit.

"Which meant, come hell or high water, that bomb was gonna go off no matter what." He said. "We're dealing with a sick man, here, folks."

"Which makes it all the more necessary for us to stop him." Robin told them. "We have our first lead, though. Let's go see Walker."

"Find anything?" The Commissioner asked when they came back up to him.

"Just this," Robin said, tossing the trigger to him. "Look familiar to you?"

Walker caught it and examined.

"A C-4 trigger." Commissioner Walker mused, turning it over in his hands. "I saw a lot of these things in 'Nam. It's titanium, too. This is real pro shit, kiddos."

"Vietnam?" Robin echoed. "You think Crimson Wolf might be a veteran?"

"Not likely," Walker replied after thinking about it. "This is the first time he's been known to be in the U.S, so I get the feeling he's a foreigner. The bastard might be Vietnamese, though. Or maybe even Russian. There were quite a few mercs from there during the war."

Robin nodded.

"You think you can arrange for Bard to speak to Verilli today, Commissioner?" He asked him.

"No can do," Walker shook his head. "No one in, and no one out."

Robin squinted at him through his eye mask.

"That's a new policy," he commented.

"Yeah, well, it's the first time we've held an international criminal before."

"Why _are_ you holding him anyway?" Robin asked him. That fact had been bothering him. "You would think that would be a job for the FBI."

"You and me both, kid." Walker said as he lit up a cigarette. In the background, Bard found that he had lit one up, too, without even thinking about it. "Seems like the damned FBI has a leak, so the department's saddled with his ass." He positioned his cigarette to the other end of his mouth. "That was confidential, by the way." He added.

Robin nodded.

"All right, Titans." He said to Bard and Raven. "Let's get back to the Tower. We've got some work to do."

"Raven," Robin said almost before they got out of the elevator that opened up into the main room of Titans Tower. "I need you to do a computer scan. If there's been any C-4 missing or stolen in this city for the last six months, I want to know about it."

Raven nodded.

"Bard," The Boy Wonder continued. "You rest up. If anything goes on in the city today, let the other Titans handle it. I'm gonna need you for patrol tonight. Trust me, if you don't rest up, it'll be a _long_ night. That goes for you, too, Superboy!" Robin called across the room to the super powered teen.

"What are _you_ going to do?" Raven asked him.

"I'm gonna scrounge up and study all the information I can find on Crimson Wolf." He answered her. "The smallest detail might help us stop him before he can strike again. _And_ I'm gonna search for anyone in the Vietnam War with the codename Crimson Wolf." He added.

"It's gonna be tough for me to get back to sleep." Bard admitted, taking off his hat and absently scratching the back of his hair. "Once I'm awake, I stay awake."

Robin nodded knowingly.

"I'm the same way." He said. "But try anyway. If nothing else, relax on the couch and watch the news. Maybe the media will have some new info we can use."

"Well," Bard said. "Cyborg and Beast Boy are kinda playing video games right now." He pointed to where the two boys were planted in front of the television, busily mashing buttons on their respective controllers and talking trash to each other.

"Beast Boy, Cyborg," Robin called out to them. "Go find something else to do. Bard needs the TV."

"But Robin!" Beast Boy whined. "Me and Cy _always_ play Game Station! What are we supposed to do now?"

"I _could_ use a workout." Cyborg half said to himself as he clicked off the video game system. "It's been a while since I've pumped some serious iron!" He flexed his huge arms.

"Pssh! I hate training!"

"You _could_ do the dishes, Beast Boy…" Robin suggested mildly.

Beast Boy looked over at the literal mountain of plates, cups, and silverware next do the sink…And the blue, probably unidentified, gooey substance growing on them.

"Ahem," he coughed nervously. "I, uh, think I'll go train now." He quickly followed Cyborg out of the room.

Robin nodded at Bard and walked out of the room as well; most likely to his room and his computer for some obsessive research. This time, however, the cowboy couldn't blame him. He plopped down on the couch, grabbed the remote and turned the television to the twenty four hour local news station.

"_For those of you just joining us-" _An attractive newscaster with blonde hair and deep green eyes said behind a desk, and Bard smiled to himself. Good timing… "_There was an explosion aboard a trolley tram early this morning in the Tech District near the intersection of Jordan and Nolan Street. As of yet, the cause of the blast is unknown Commissioner Walker, the Police Chief of the Jump City Police Department, arrived on the scene little more than an hour ago. When approached by our reporters, he gave a 'no comment'. It seems the police are as much in the dark about this as the public is."_

Bard allowed himself to smile at that. He was pretty sure Commissioner Walker hadn't said 'no comment'. He had probably just said something that the channel couldn't, by FCC regulations, lawfully put on the air. But then his smile faded as the seriousness of the report sank into his brain.

As Raven had said, this really was a warning. Killing ten people was an atrocity in and of itself…But how many more would have been killed had it been during rush hour? From the size of the tram, Bard figured at least fifty people could fit onto it. And Crimson Wolf could have just as easily planted the bomb in the middle of a mall, or under a bench in the city park…

"Friend Bard," Starfire said, floating over to him. "Could I perhaps exchange words with you?"

"Of course," Bard told her. He turned the television down a bit and moved over to lean against the arm rest, giving her plenty of room to sit down.

"My thanks," the Tamaranean told him, taking a seat. "Could you, perhaps, inform me as to why…why Robin chose you and Superboy to patrol the city tonight?"

"Probably because we can fly." Bard shrugged. "We can cover more ground that way, and we'll have a bird's eye view of everything."

"But I can fly as well." Starfire told him. "Then why did Robin not choose _me_ to accompany him on this mission?"

Something clicked inside Bard's brain. He should have known what Starfire was worried about before she even opened her mouth.

"Maybe he thought you would be better at stopping anyone causing trouble in the city while we're away." He suggested. The cowboy wasn't sure if Robin would care if he told Starfire the true reason for his decision, so he decided to play it safe.

"But you do not understand!" Starfire said passionately. "Robin and I are always together!"

Bard opened his mouth…

"It comforts me to be near him." Starfire continued quickly. "Perhaps I am selfish, but I am most sad and anxious when we are apart. I feel that he may be in great danger! When I am with him, I know that I am there to protect him…"

Bard couldn't help it. He chuckled.

"Do you find my emotional plight humorous?" Starfire asked him, her eyes hurt.

"Of course not," Bard told her quickly, waving his hand. "It's just…I've heard someone say that before."

The alien girl cocked her head to the side.

"You know," the cowboy continued. "If you're so worried about it, why don't you talk to Robin?"

"I cannot." She said. "It greatly displeases Robin to be interrupted while he is conducting research." She paused. "Could you talk to him about it when you embark upon patrol tonight?" She asked him hopefully.

"I don't know, Starfire…"

"Please?" She cajoled, practically begging him with her big, emerald eyes. "He'll listen to you. He respects you."

Bard blinked.

"He does?"

"Of course. Now will you ask him for me? Please?"

Bard sighed.

"All right," he gave in. "I'll ask him tonight. No promises, though!"

"Oh, thank you!" Starfire lunged forward like a tiger and bear hugged him crushingly.

"Star!" Bard choked. "Air, air!"

"Oh!" Starfire immediately let go. "I was unaware I was-" She stopped and looked at him closer. "Just now, you sounded much akin to Robin…"

Bard suddenly realized that they were looking deep into each other's eyes. Amber's face was suddenly before him…

Starfire blinked and shook her head, and the spell was broken. Bard coughed nervously.

"Th-thank you, friend Bard." Starfire stammered. "I must go…and feed water to the green foliage of the tower! They must be most thirsty!" She quickly flew off.

Bard looked up at the ceiling. Where had that come from? Until that moment, he had never fully realized how lonely he was. Not for friends, certainly…but for something a little more intimate…

He quickly stood up and wiped off the front his blue jeans. Maybe he _should_ try and go fall asleep, after all.

"_Today in weather-" _The anchorwoman stopped in mid sentence and brought her hand up to her earpiece. _"It seems we have a late breaking report pertaining to the tram explosion earlier today. We take you live to action reporter Vincent Caprell in Studio B. Vincent?"_

"_Good morning, Tammie." _A brown haired man with a youthful, yet distinguished, face said._ "Just moments ago, I received a phone call in my office from a man who calls himself the Crimson Wolf. He told me to write down and read the following on air. Although I find it distasteful, I must do my duty as a journalist and as a citizen of this great city."_

Bard easily saw the lie on the man's face, even as he perked up at hearing the name Crimson Wolf. Whoever this Vincent fellow was, he was lapping up the attention like a lap dog. As fast as he could, Bard flicked open his communicator.

"_Robin!" _He said into it. _"Get in here quick, Crimson Wolf's on the news!"_

"_Who is this Crimson Wolf?" _Tammie, the anchorwoman, asked Vincent Caprell from off the screen.

"_Hopefully, what I'm about to read will answer that." _The arrogant Yankee said it almost proudly.

The doors opened up, and Robin flung himself into the room.

"Wow," Bard marveled. "You sure got here quick."

"Did I miss it?"

Bard shook his head and turned up the volume.

"_As I was saying,_" Vincent said. _"Just recently, a man calling himself the Crimson Wolf called my personal office and demanded I read this over the air." _He cleared his throat. _"And I quote:"_

"'_Tell the people of this city that it was me who planted the bomb on the tram that exploded this morning. Commissioner Walker of the JCPD is holding someone who, until released, is the cause of this bombing, and the ones to come. For everyday he is in custody, I will plant and detonate a bomb within this city, and the death rate will go up with each blast. If Commissioner Walker values the lives of this city's citizens at all, he will release his prisoner. If he does not, I suggest to the mothers and fathers out there to let their kids eat as much candy as they want tonight, since they might not be eating anything at all tomorrow…or ever again.' That was his exact quote."_

"So much for Walker keeping the media out of it."

"Terrorists work through fear." Robin explained to him. "If the citizens don't know why he's planting those bombs, they aren't as effective."

"_Vincent," _the anchorwoman said. _"That was truly terrifying to hear. Have you confirmed this with the JCPD?"_

"_Commissioner Walker hasn't heard it yet, Tammie, unless he's watching TBEP News." _Vincent said it smugly.

Underneath his eye mask, Robin's eyebrows raised.

"He'll be lucky if Commissioner Walker doesn't arrest him for withholding evidence." He said.

"_Another breaking report, ladies and gentlemen." _Tammie Johan announced. _"Commissioner Walker and the JCPD has just announced a news conference thirty minutes from now. The conference will be televised here when it transpires."_

Vincent Caprell laughed arrogantly.

"_It appears that the Commissioner watches TBEP News after all!"_

"I already hate him." Bard declared. He paused. "I reckon it _is_ nice to know that somebody on this planet can get under _his_ skin, though." He added.

Bard and Robin watched the next half hour of news, waiting for Commissioner Walker's press conference and listening to supposed 'experts' speculate about Crimson Wolf.

"Don't listen to them." Robin told Bard after one 'expert' candidly said that, from how he had spoken during his message, Crimson Wolf was obviously a spurned, radical homosexual whom was abused as a child. "They don't know what in the world they're talking about."

"I kinda guessed that…"

"_Excuse me, I hate to interrupt this enlightening discussion, but Commissioner Walker has just taken the podium. We take you there now, live."_

"Thank God." Bard praised.

"Amen," Robin backed him up.

The cowboy grinned at the Boy Wonder for a moment, but then the two of them turned back to the television screen.

Commissioner Walker leaned wearily over the wooden podium in front of the JCPD with a cigarette hanging between his lips. Before him was a crowd of reporters, cameramen and photographers.

"_I want to take this time to assure the citizens of this city that the JCPD is doing everything possible to stop this Crimson Wolf and to make sure there are no more bombings. All right," _he added reluctantly, exhaling smoke. _"I'll take some dam-, some questions now."_

"_Who is this mysterious prisoner that Crimson Wolf wants released?"_

"_Should it matter?" _Walker snapped at the reporter. _"I'm __**not**__ gonna break the laws of this country and let someone go without a trial just 'cause some nut's found a bomb manual on the internet or somewhere. But just in case some of you other num-, uh, reporters want to ask the same question, I'm telling you right here and now that this information is confidential. Next?"_

"_Are the Teen Titans involved in this case?"_

Commissioner Walker flicked ashes from his cigarette.

"_The Titans do what the Titans always do," _he said simply. "_They help protect the city. How 'bout you?" _He pointed at another reporter.

"_How do you feel about the comment Vincent Caprell said about you earlier on TBEP News?"_

The Commissioner's jaw clenched, and Bard and Robin unconsciously leaned forward, interested in Walker's response.

"_The media must take responsibility for it's actions. In certain situations, it's better to inform the police before the public." _He tried to keep his tone calm. _"That being said, the media, and Mr. Caprell, has the right to report anything it wants to. One last question."_

The crowd of reporters immediately began to shout out questions, all at the same time. But above the roar, one question was clearly heard.

"_Do you think you can catch Crimson Wolf before he strikes again?"_

The crowd went silent and looked up at Commissioner Walker expectantly. Walker patiently took one last drag of his cigarette, dropped it on the ground and stomped it out with his shoe.

"_We're doing everything, Titans and the JCPD included, to stop Crimson Wolf before anymore lives are lost. Thank you."_

He turned and walked back into the police headquarters building, ignoring the yelled questions thrown at him by the almost desperate sounding reporters.

Crimson Wolf stood up, walked over to the television and flipped off the press conference with Commissioner Walker. Then he smiled to himself.

This Commissioner was a tough man, and he might not crack. But the city would. Americans were weak. A few more strategically placed bombings and the citizens of the city would be demanding Walker to free Verilli. Even better, the Commissioner hadn't told the public who the prisoner in custody was. That worked even better for his plans. If the public didn't know who he wished to free, their imaginations could run wild with all kinds of radical injustices, instead of seeing Verilli as the tyrannical drug dealer he really was.

But that was okay by Crimson Wolf. Verilli _was_ a tyrannical drug dealer; but he also had associates that paid extremely well. Who knows? Maybe after this last job, he'd retire and buy a small city down in the Bahamas or something…

"All right," Robin said to Superboy and Bard from where they were standing in the center of the city. The half moon above them announced that it was fairly well into the night. "I need you two to keep your eyes peeled. Look for anyone suspicious, especially men carrying duffel bags, suit cases, knapsacks, anything you could carry an explosive in. Go it?"

"Gotcha!" Superboy gave him a thumbs up. "I'll bring the dude in before midnight!"

"I sure hope so," Robin muttered as the Boy of Steel took to the air.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Bard asked him.

"What is it?"

"Starfire asked me-"

"Can't this wait?" Robin asked him impatiently. It was obvious that he was ready to start his patrol.

"Well, I guess, but-"

"We've got a bomber out on the streets, Bard." Robin said to him firmly. "These other little problems can wait. He could be setting up some C-4 right now."

"I know that, but-"

**SW-CLICK! SWOOSH!**

Robin shot off a grappling hook and swooped away. Bard muttered about that as he summoned up a wind and took to the air himself. The Boy Wonder might have let his guard down just a bit in the elevator while the two of them were heading to the bomb site, but the wall was certainly back up now…with reinforcement.

Bard saw him just a few minutes before midnight. He had lanky, long black hair and he looked around with paranoia, scanning around him with slightly glazed eyes. But what caught Bard's eye the most was the blue duffle bag he was carrying. He looked to be about thirty years old and he was walking on the sidewalk in front of a recently closed movie theater.

The man continued to look around suspiciously, but he never looked up.

"Ha!"

"Oof!"

Bard collapsed on his back like a falling roof and sent both of them to the ground. He quickly flipped him onto his stomach and planted his knee firmly into his back as he grabbed the duffle.

"H-hey man!" The greasy haired man protested. "What are you doing?"

"Shut up," Bard growled, shoving his knee deeper into his spine and unzipping the bag with his free hands. He looked inside and found…no C-4. Instead, he found quite a few plastic bags filled with white powder. And the cowboy was fairly sure it wasn't baking soda.

Calmly, Bard got up and took the bag to the middle of the street. Once there, he pried open a manhole and dumped the drugs in nonchalantly.

"No!" The man half screamed, his face paling as he brought his hands up to his face. "Do you have any idea what that was _worth?"_

"Do you have any idea how _lucky_ you are?" Bard snarled at him as he gripped the front of his shirt. "I'm letting you go this time, but next time…" He left it hanging off ominously before throwing him down to the pavement, turning and jumping back into the air.

**BEEP! BEEP!**

"_Bard here,"_ the cowboy said after he clicked open his communicator to be greeted by Robin's face.

"_Find anything yet?"_

"_I just stopped a drug sale, but that's it."_

"_Don't bother taking the guy in." _Robin ordered him. _"Our priority is still Crimson Wolf."_

"_I reckoned you'd feel that way." _Bard nodded._ "Have you or Superboy found anything yet?"_

"_No, not yet. But don't get careless. Keep you eyes open and let me know right away if you spot him!"_

"_Ten-Four,"_

Bard put his Titans communicator back into his trench coat and continued his patrol. This was going to be a lot harder than he thought…like finding a needle in a haystack.


	41. Gains, Loses and Complications

"_And then all the Beast Boy fan girls would turn lesbian!" - Beast Boy_

_**CHAPTER FORTY ONE**_

_**GAINS, LOSES AND COMPLICATIONS**_

"Nothing," Robin grunted as he, Bard and Superboy came back into the Main Room just as dawn was staining the dark sky outside. "Absolutely nothing,"

"Chill out, dude!" Beast Boy told him. Robin had called the remaining Titans into the main room to greet them. "We'll catch'em! We just need a little time!"

"Time?" Robin almost growled, cutting the air with his gloved hand. "Time? That's the one thing we don't have! Crimson Wolf's probably already planted the next bomb, and it could go off any minute now! Any _minute!_"

"Simply talking about it won't stop it, Robin." Raven droned at him.

Robin grew himself up as if to send an angry retort at her, but then he stopped himself.

"You're right," he admitted. He took a deep breath. "Did the computer scan show anything?" He asked her.

Raven shook her head.

"No C-4 stolen anywhere in the city." She replied. "At least not in the last six months."

Robin nodded.

"I thought as much. If Crimson Wolf were that sloppy, someone would have already been caught by now." He took another deep breath. "All right, Bard, Superboy, go get some rest. Raven, Beast Boy, come with me. We're going back out on patrol."

"_You're_ going back out?" Bard asked Robin incredulously. He had actually been able to sneak in a small nap before heading out on his patrol, and he was _still_ dead tired. Robin, on the other hand, had spent the day in front of the computer, researching the meager information that was known about Crimson Wolf.

"We _have_ to stop this guy." Robin said, slamming the butt of his fist into his palm. "The cost is too high."

"But-"

"I can go without sleep when I need to." He interrupted the cowboy. "Now go get some rest. Raven, Beast Boy, let's go."

Robin turned to leave and Starfire glanced at Bard almost desperately before flying off after him.

"Robin!" She said, practically tugging on his cape. "Might I not assist you? Surely-"

"No," The Boy Wonder said it so coldly that even Bard flinched before he strode out of the room with Raven and Beast Boy in tow.

Starfire turned to Bard with actual tears in her eyes before flying off down the hallway.

"Whoa," Cyborg said, rubbing the back of his head. "What's up with her?"

"Don't know," Bard lied. Cyborg had been on the other side of the room when the Tamaranean had fled, so the cowboy figured he hadn't seen her tears. "She's probably bored with being cooped up in the tower, or somethin'."

"Uh-huh," Cyborg wasn't buying it, Bard could see that as clear as day. "Do you remember, not long after you became an apprentice here, that poker game you , me and BB played?"

The cowboy suddenly stiffened.

"It wasn't much of a game." He replied as nonchalantly as possible.

"That's because you walked out, dawg."

"…"

"So…you remember _why_ you walked out?"

"Probably because I needed a cigarette." Bard said shortly. "Just like I do now."

He quickly retreated to the elevator that led to the roof before Cyborg could stop him. Once there, the cowboy did exactly what he told Cyborg he was going to do: He lit up a cigarette. He was alone, since Raven was out on patrol, so he had nothing for company except for his thoughts as he sat on the edge of the roof with his boots hanging off the side, all the while puffing away at his cancer stick.

Things certainly hadn't been boring since he had come to Titans Tower, that was for damn sure. But that also cut both ways. When you were a superhero, exciting was usually another word for bad or dangerous.

He'd certainly seen his share of super villains, that was for sure. Slade, Jinx, and Killer Moth to just name a few, and now he and the other Titans had their hands full with Brother Blood and Crimson Wolf. Didn't they ever get a day off?

And almost worse than that, was what was going on _inside_ the tower. There was _something_ going on between him and Starfire. The only problem was, he didn't know what the hell it was. Robin and Starfire should be together. He knew that. It was…written in the stars someplace or something. But Robin wasn't ready to let himself get that close to anyone; and maybe he never would be. Starfire, on the other hand, _was_ ready. Even being apart from the Boy Wonder for the smallest amounts of time caused her something very much akin to physical pain.

With painful clarity, Bard saw exactly what went on in his and Starfire's exchange yesterday, when their faces had been so close together…Starfire hadn't been looking at Bard, or even Jonny; she had seen Robin's face instead. And Bard himself was guilty of the same thing. He hadn't seen Starfire. He had seen Amber. Both he and Starfire were very much alike. Both of them loved someone that was unattainable; either physically or emotionally. So instead, they had tried to seek solace in each other.

Bard thanked God that the two of them had stopped it before anything irrevocable happened. Had they actually kissed…well, there would hell to pay. And probably more than that, if Robin had anything to say about it.

Bard threw his cigarette off the side of the building and stood up. He really did need to go to sleep. If not to get some rest before his next patrol, then to just sink into dark oblivion for the next couple of hour, or years, so that he could get away from his blasted thoughts.

"Friend Bard!" Starfire called to him. "Bard! You must wake up!"

Bard groaned and turned over. Was it time for his next patrol already?

"Just a few more minutes, Star." He pleaded groggily.

"But friend Bard!" Starfire persisted. "Brother Blood is causing havoc in the city! He is calling for you."

_That_ woke the cowboy up. Bard's eyes popped open immediately and he sat up. He pushed off the covers, stood up and threw on his new and improved glasses…just in time to see Starfire staring and blushing at him. Bard blinked, but then he suddenly understood. He looked down to see that his upper body was bare and that he was only wearing his jeans and his boots. He had been so exhausted earlier that he didn't feel like changing clothes, so he had simply tossed off his coat and shirt before collapsing onto his bed. He coughed nervously at the Tamaranean before throwing on his shirt and cross adorned trench coat.

"All right," he said. "Let's go."

"What?" Starfire's eyes seemed slightly dazed.

"We have to stop Brother Blood, remember?"

"Brother Blood?" Starfire shook her head as if trying to break a spell enchanted on her. "Right! Brother Blood! He must be stopped! Let us make haste!"

Bard shook his head as he followed after her. This might be harder than he thought…

Beast Boy swooped almost lazily over the city, watching the ground below him with the sharp, acute eyes of a hawk. Just like Robin had instructed him, he was looking for anyone suspicious that was carrying a bag of some kind; anything you could put C-4 in, anyway.

One man below him, in particular, caught his eye. He was dressed in an immaculate, expensive looking suit and held a black leather suitcase. Not a hair on his head was out of place. None of that would have been suspicious if it hadn't been for the way the man moved.

The green changeling wasn't an detective by any means of the imagination, and he knew it. He probably wasn't even fit to hold Robin's magnifying glass. (Beast Boy figured he had at least _one_ in his utility belt. Robin had one of _everything _in that thing. He idly wondered if he kept condoms in it…) He shook his feather head, trying to rein in his distracted thoughts into something a little more coherent. He wasn't an detective, but he _did_ know bad guys. He'd seen enough of them, that was for sure.

Bad guys, the really good ones, anyway, always moved a certain way. All of their movements were slow and deliberate and confident. They scanned the area around them fluidly and their eyes took in everything. And that's exactly how the guy below him moved, despite the barely noticeable limp in his right leg.

Beast Boy swooped down to the sidewalk, reverted back to his own form and stopped the man.

"Wait a sec, mister, I wanna talk to ya." He said to him.

The light skinned man looked down at him coldly with piercing, light blue eyes set in a square, almost blocky face.

"Who are you?" He asked, his voice dusty and slightly marred by an accent Beast Boy couldn't place. A beat. "And why is your skin green?"

"You don't know who I am?" Beast Boy asked, surprised. "I'm Beast Boy!"

The man stared.

"You know, from the Teen Titans? The greatest group of superheroes the world has ever seen?"

The man continued to stare, but his eyes turned a little wary.

"What do you want?" He demanded.

"I just wanna take a peek in the case, and then you can go."

The man squinted at him.

"Do you have a search warrant?"

"Dude, I'm a superhero!" Beast Boy told him. "I don't _need_ a search warrant. Now hand it over!"

The thrust kick came without any warning whatsoever. Beast Boy flew backwards and smashed into the side of a parked car. But he was back to his feet again in a flash and, in the form of a small chimp, he leapt onto the man's head.

"Arrugh!"

The man dropped his suitcase and, with both hands, pried Beast Boy off his face. Then he grabbed the emerald primate by the tail and slung him into the middle of the street. The changeling bounced on the asphalt and reverted into elf form…just in time to see a school bus careening straight for him.

"WahhhhhH!"

Beast Boy dove out of the way onto the opposite sidewalk, and he could actually feel the whoosh of air as the bus drove by. Panting, he stood up and looked back across the street to where the man had been…but he was gone.

"Awww, man! This is _so-_" Beast Boy stopped his whining short when he noticed something. The man had left his suitcase behind. The green changeling quickly reached into his tights for his communicator.

"_Jackpot!"_

Bard didn't find it difficult at all to find Brother Blood. Not with the explosions and screams and fleeing pedestrians and all.

"I won't stop destroying this city until Bard shows himself before me!" Brother Blood yelled, probably for the sake of the black robed followers that were with him. "He'll pay for the atrocious crime he committed against my father!"

"Oh, brother…" Bard groaned as he dismounted from his Harley.

"Yauuggh!" Cyborg yelled, obviously already on the scene. Brother Blood ducked under his heavy swipe, stood on his hands and acrobatically drove both of his feet hard into the half robot's face.

**BAM!**

Cyborg slid back first across the pavement, his metal shoulder blades emitting orange sparks from the friction.

"All right, Sebastion." Bard stepped forward, seeing that Starfire and Superboy were in the process of taking out the cultists. "I'm here. Now what do you want?"

Brother Blood grit his teeth.

"I'm not Sebastion. My name is-"

"Brother Blood." Bard finished for him. "I know. Now what do you want?"

"I want revenge for the death of the my father!" He bellowed. "His blood is on your hands!"

"Hmph, you're the one with the bloodstained hands, Blood."

"I don't think so." Brother Blood almost purred. "_You're _the one with the bloody past."

Bard's eyes widened behind his glasses. Surely he didn't know-

"You see, Bard, it wasn't only your powers I took when I bit you." Brother Blood went on. "I took your memories as well." He paused. "Whatever became of that Amber girl, I wonder?"

"Shut up," Bard growled.

Brother Blood laughed evilly.

"Have I hit a soft spot, Bard?" He asked. "Have you told your super powered friends about all the things you've done? I'm _sure_ they would understand."

"Shut _up!"_

Brother Blood smiled twistedly.

"It looks like you were wrong after all, Bard." The vampire said slowly as if sadistically gauging the effect his words were having on the cowboy. "The sun did set, didn't it?"

That final taunting pushed Bard over the breaking point.

"Hraaugh!"

The cowboy rocketed forward on a gust of unnatural wind, intent on driving his adamantine covered fist straight into Brother Blood's smug mouth. But the vampire easily spun around the attack and kicked Bard feet out from under him. Bard hit the ground back first and Brother Blood jumped into the air, flipped, and drove both of his feet into the pit of the cowboy's stomach.

"Ooooosh!" Bard spluttered as the air was forced from his lungs.

"So," Brother Blood said, grinding his boots deeper into Bard's abdomen and leaning over to get face to face with him. "Who's the one who can't fight now?"

"Get off of him!"

Brother Blood looked up-

**ZAF!**

The green star bolt hit him dead on and he was flung back into a lamppost.

**TUNG!**

"You shouldn't have done that…" Brother Blood growled as he pushed the broken off lamppost off of him and made it back to his feet. "Haugh!" He flung a red fireball at her.

"Starfire!" Bard leapt and pushed out of the way, just in time to take the brunt of the blast himself. "Mmmph!"

"Bard!" Starfire tried to fly over and check on him, but Brother Blood mercilessly kicked her out of the way.

"I could finish you right now, cowboy." The vampire said as he towered over him and formed a spike of ice in his hand. He reared back… "But I won't." He smiled, making Bard feel sick. "I want to make you suffer first."

With that, Brother Blood called up a wind to pick up him and his followers before flying off towards the mountains.

"Yeah!" Cyborg yelled after him after making it to his feet. "You'd better run!"

"Psh! He's lucky _I_ didn't get a hold of him!" Superboy flexed.

Both Bard and Starfire had made it back to their feet as well.

"Friend Bard," The Tamaranean said to him. "I-"

"What is it, Star?"

"I-" She paused. "I was wondering if, perhaps, I could ride along with you on your bi-wheel vehicle?"

With all the things going on lately, Bard was sorely tempted to say no. But…he couldn't. Not to her. Besides, he told himself, she was probably too hurt to fly.

"All right," he agreed. "Come on,"

Across the plaza, Cyborg was watching the two of them with speculative eyes, one natural and one manufactured, as Bard helped Starfire onto the back of his Harley and drove off.

Neither Bard nor Starfire said a word on the ride back to the Tower, but Starfire finally spoke up when they were back in the garage.

"I wanted to thank you, Bard." She said as the cowboy was taking off his black helmet. "You saved me from Brother Blood's heated attack and-"

"It was nothing," he cut her off gently. "I would have done it for anybody." He added quickly.

"Nevertheless, I am appreciative of your valiant deed today…"

They were suddenly face to face again, their faces dangerously close.

"Starfire, I-" Bard began.

**BEEP! BEEP!**

"_Bard, Starfire!" _Robin's voice came over the frequency. _"We might have a new lead in the Crimson Wolf case. Get up here!"_

"What do we got?" Bard asked as he and Starfire entered the main room.

"Beast Boy might have had a run in with Crimson Wolf." Robin answered him. "But whoever he was, he left behind this." He pointed to the black, leather suitcase that Cyborg was scanning.

"Good job, my man!" Bard congratulated Beast Boy.

"All in a day's work!" The changeling declared grandiosely.

"I bet," Bard drawled, but then he paused. "I just hope it isn't another case full of drugs." He said. "'Cause if it is, I might just be tempted to take some and get it over with now."

"So, Sparky," Superboy asked as he hopped over to where Cyborg was finishing his scan on the briefcase. "What's the verdict?"

"I'll be finished in a minute, Super_kid_." The robot shot back.

"Hey!" Bard said to Cyborg, pretending to be offended. "Nobody can make fun of Superkid except me!"

Red faced, Superboy walked off to the other end of the room, muttering to himself.

'_I think I might have just taken the lead with that one.'_ Bard said smugly to himself.

**BL-BLEEP!**

"All right, folks." Cyborg said. "Scan's complete."

"And?" Robin prodded him.

"_And_…it's C-4."

"Is it all right to open it?"

"I think so," Cyborg replied.

"You _think?_" Beast Boy screeched. "Dude, if you're wrong, we all go kablewy! Bam! Beast Boy painted all over the walls!"

"Dying alongside of you would _almost_ be worth it…" Raven muttered.

"And then all the Beast Boy fan girls would turn lesbian!" Beast Boy went on unimpeded.

"Yes," Raven said dryly. "All three of them."

"Bard," Starfire asked. "What are lesbians?"

"Uh…"

"It'll be all right, dawg…probably." Cyborg said.

"_**PROBABLY?"**_

"Calm down, Beast Boy." Robin mediated. "There's no reason to open it. But that case being filled with explosives means you _did_ run into Crimson Wolf."

"Yeah, so?"

"_So_, you can ID him, right?"

"I guess so, but what does that have to do with anything?"

Robin sweat dropped.

"Don't you think a composite sketch of Crimson Wolf would help us, and the police, catch him just a _little _sooner?"

Beast Boy blinked.

"I hadn't thought of that…"

Robin sighed.

Three hours later…

"All right," Commissioner Walker said, his tone half tired and half frustrated as he snatched a paper from an artist and showed it to Beast Boy via the Titans' Monitor. "Is _this_ what Crimson Wolf looks like?"

"Well…" Beast Boy considered as he looked at the drawing of a black haired man with a blocky, angular face. "The nose was just a tiny, teeny, inny little bit smaller…"

"The damn thing doesn't have to be perfect you little green toadstool!" Walker lost his cool…for the umpteenth time. "Now does this look like Crimson Wolf or not?" He shook the picture angrily at the changeling.

"Hmm, I guess."

"Finally!" Commissioner Walker burst out. "I'll have my people fax this over to you, Robin, and also out to each of the squad cars. We're gonna get this sonuvabitch!" The Commissioner's tone changed from angry to gleeful in three sentences.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Commissioner." Robin told him. "We still haven't caught Crimson Wolf yet, you know."

"Damn pessimistic kid…" Walker cursed before the screen went black.

The Boy Wonder turned to Beast Boy.

"Was there anything else you noticed about him that could help us?" He asked

Beast Boy shrugged.

"Um…he was wearing fancy-smancy suit and he had a limp."

"A limp?" Robin repeated. "Good, maybe that'll narrow it down some when we go looking for him. And I can search for the codename Crimson Wolf in the Vietnam War again."

Beast Boy stared at him blankly.

"You have _no_ idea how many 'Crimson Wolf's' there were down there." He said. "But now, I can narrow it down because the one we're looking for had injured one of his legs. Good job, BB!"

"I know," Beast Boy said magnanimously, buffing his fingernails on the front of his suit. "I'm good."

"Ya'll might want to stand back." Bard warned with a grin. "I think his head's gonna pop!"

"Haha, Bard, very funny."

"All right," Robin said, the authority back in his voice. "Like I said, we haven't caught Crimson Wolf yet. We might have his bomb, but there wasn't an explosion yet today, and I'm pretty sure Crimson Wolf wants to carry out his threat. Let's get to it! Superboy, Bard, it's your turn for patrol again. Come on!"

"Uh…" Bard shot a quick glance at Starfire and then looked back at the Boy Wonder. "I'm still a little tired, Robin." He said it carefully. "Maybe _Star_ should go instead." He looked meaningfully at Robin.

"Yes!" Starfire piped up immediately. "I would be glad-"

"No," Robin retorted, either missing the cowboy's hint or simply disregarding it. "If you don't feel up to it, I'll bring Cyborg along. He should be able to patrol in the T-Car just as well as you could from the air." He paused and looked thoughtfully at Bard. "Let me talk to you for a second."

Bard nodded and followed him, alone, out into the hallway.

"What are you doing?" Robin whispered harshly to him. "I thought you understood why I wasn't bringing Starfire along."

"I know that, Robin, but Star-"

"She can stand being here at the Tower for a few days. It won't kill her."

"It's coming closer to killing her than you think!" Bard's voice rose a little. "She and I-" He stopped himself quickly.

The slits of Robin's eye mask narrowed dangerously.

"You and Starfire what?"

"…."

"I've got better things to do, Bard." Robin said icily, turning with a flapping of his cape. "Go get some rest." He began to walk away.

"Robin!" Bard said sharply. "If you walk out that door today without Starfire, you could lose her!"

That stopped the Boy Wonder dead in his tracks. Bard stood watching his back for only a moment in the darkness of the hallway, but it felt like an eternity.

"Then…that's a risk I must take." Robin said quietly, emotionlessly. "The citizens of this city are more important than my and Starfire's feelings." He started walking again.

Bard said nothing, he simply stood there, in the darkness, with his head bowed. The Boy Wonder was taking the chance of losing something infinitely precious because…why? Responsibility?

_God help him…_

Crimson Wolf was in the darkness as well. He sat in the floor of a motel and meticulously began constructing another bomb. The green man, Beast Boy, had foiled his plans before, but he would be damned if he didn't fulfill his promise to the city. There _would_ be a bombing.

He walked into the bathroom to relieve himself. As he washing his hands, he looked up into the mirror and saw…a stranger. He no longer knew himself. Every couple of years, he would have extensive plastic surgery to alter his appearance. As a result, it made it almost impossible for the authorities to ID him until it was too late. But he had been ID'd on this job way too early, and it was too late to change his appearance. He had a wig, and maybe he would apply a fake beard or mustache on his face later, but it was too late to change the base of his appearance.

But that was okay. He was still the best. And he would _still_ free Verilli Verquez.

No matter what…


	42. Throwing Down the Gauntlet

"_I'm an insect to be stepped on, am I? We will see which one of us shall be exterminated, my masked friends!" - Crimson Wolf_

_**CHAPTER FORTY TWO**_

_**THROWING DOWN THE GAUNTLET**_

"Dude, I am _totally _serious!" Beast Boy was saying when Bard trudged lethargically back into the main room. Robin, Superboy and Cyborg had already left for their bomb patrol. "That thing is dangerous! The C-4's still in there, ya know! It can still go kablam!" He threw his hands up in the air in emphasis.

"Quiet, Beast Boy." Raven ordered him, barely even taking her eyes from her book. "I'm trying to concentrate."

"Listen to me, Raven!" Beast Boy almost squealed as he looked apprehensively at the black suitcase he had taken from Crimson Wolf. "That thing's filled with explosives! It could kill us and take out the tower all at the same time!"

"I said, _be quiet!" _Raven growled

"Eep!" The green changeling retreated down the hallway…probably to worry in private.

"You know," Bard said as he walked over to stand next to the futon where Raven sat. "He might actually have a point."

"That would be a first."

"That thing _could_ blow up…"

"Cyborg disarmed it already." Raven told her half brother shortly, still refusing to look up at him from her book.

"Then why is Beast Boy all worked up?" He tried to catch his half sister's eyes with his own, but he failed miserably.

"Cyborg didn't tell him he disarmed it." Raven told him, still looking down at her book. "It's probably his form of a joke."

"Oh," Bard blinked. Then he began to chuckle softly.

"Do you mind? I'm trying to read." Her voice was cold.

The cowboy walked away silently, not bothering to reply. As he walked aimlessly down the dark hallway, his thoughts began to wander.

Things were starting to fall apart, both outside Titans Tower _and_ inside. Slade, Jinx, Kitten, Brother Blood and Crimson Wolf were all loose in the streets. And the troubles at home were almost as bad.

Raven was pushing him away, obviously because the feelings she felt for him scared her. As the dark sorceress had said more than once, she couldn't get too close to _anybody_, not even her own brother. And he didn't know what in the blue hell was going on between him, Starfire and Robin. The Boy Wonder was pushing Starfire away because he didn't want her to see the gruesome scenes Crimson Wolf threatened to leave in his wake. At least, that was the reason he had given. What Robin didn't know, though, was that he was pushing the Tamaranean right into...him.

Sighing, Bard decided he didn't want to think about it anymore and made his way up to the roof for a smoke. He wasn't really surprised to find Starfire there when he saw her sitting daintily on the edge.

"Want some company?" He offered.

"O-of course!" She sniffed quickly and turned away, but there was no doubt that she had been crying.

"Did what Robin say upset you?" He asked as he lit up a cigarette and sat down beside her.

"Yes," she nodded. "_Everything_ Robin has said to me as of late hurts me." The Tamaranean paused. "Y-you have never hurt me, Bard. Why can't he be like you?"

That made the cowboy nervous.

"He's not doing it because he doesn't like you, you know." He said it quickly.

"Then why is he leaving me behind to maintain the tower and speaking to me so…frostily?"

"It's because…" He stopped. Robin seemed intent on not telling her why he was leaving her in the tower. But then he saw those large, hurt emerald eyes… "Hang it all! I don't care whether he doesn't want me to tell you or not!" He took in a deep breath. "The reason he's not taking you is…he doesn't want you to see what Crimson Wolf has done."

Starfire looked at him questioningly.

"You know, the blood and all…" Bard clarified hazily. "He thought it might upset you."

"Seeing blood would not upset me!" Starfire suddenly looked angry, and it made Bard a little apprehensive for her to show _any_ aggression outside of battle. "I fought proudly in the fifth Tamaran war! What _does_ upset me is Robin treating me bad…" Her sudden outburst of anger ended in a tone of profound melancholy.

Bard blinked. He had figured her home planet wouldn't have any wars. But then again, he had assumed they were all, at least a little, like Starfire herself. But he should have known better. Starfire, or Koriand'r as Zillah had called her, was a one of a kind.

She suddenly threw herself at him as her tears began to fall again.

"There, there," he tried vainly to comfort her, awkwardly patting her back. He wasn't very good at it. He never had been. As he gently returned her hug, he looked up as the first stars began to show in the purple sky. He sighed. Starfire was Robin's for the taking…but he wouldn't take that first step for some reason.

_What the in the blue hell are you thinking, Robin?_

Night had fallen over the city, and Robin swung from building to building via his grappling hook, surveying the streets below. But he couldn't concentrate. Every time he tried to focus his eyes on the streets and the people beneath him, the visage of a face rose in his mind. A face with large, emerald eyes. _Her_ face.

_Starfire…_

"_Yo, Robin!" _Cyborg said through the radio speaker on Robin's yellow utility belt. _"See anything yet?"_

Starfire…she was his best friend. There was no doubt about that. He had been through some serious ordeals, and made some bad decisions as well, as the leader of the Teen Titans. Ordeals and decisions that had broken the trust of his other teammates in him, but she had always stuck by him; always given him her faith…

"_Yo! Earth to Robin!"_

He was the one that saw her first when she arrived on Earth, totally ignorant and naïve about the ways of Terrans. So he had decided to work with her, to devote almost all of his time in teaching her about the history and culture here in the city. She still had lapses, of course, but she could function here now after his teachings. And in that time, Starfire emitted nothing but trust and joy from her soul. Her trust was like a light that shone into his dark, oftentimes cynical mind, and her joy was contagious.

"_Robin, you there man? Speak up!"_

The former, the joy she gave him, was an invaluable gift. His life had never been very joyful. He had lost his parents before he was old enough to even really got a chance to know them. Then, he was adopted by Bruce Wayne. To a kid who just lost his parents, Bruce was cold and distant, and his huge house was lonely and empty. Then came the day where he donned the cowl, and that's when he started associating almost exclusively with the scum of society. Finally, Batman had ordered him to quit the superhero business, fearing for his safety after an especially close scrape.

But he refused, rebuked his mentor and…that had led him to Jump City to form the Teen Titans. Without a doubt, being with Starfire and the rest of the Titans, was the happiest time of his young life. And now he might lose all that…

"_Robin! Answer me man! If you don't' speak up soon I'm gonna call off the patrol and-"_

"_I'm here,"_ Robin finally answered. _"Continue the patrol. I need to go back to the Tower."_

"_What for man?" _Silence. _"Robin?"_

"…_I want to make sure I didn't lose something; Something important. Robin out."_

"So," Bard said to Starfire softly. He had broken his hug after her crying had run its course, but he left one arm draped across her narrow shoulders protectively. "You feelin' better now?"

"I-I believe I am." Starfire answered demurely. "Though, it occurs to me that we did not resolve the situation."

"Well, only you and Robin can do that." Bard replied after a moment. "But there's something to be said about a good cryin'. It helps to get some of the pain out, I reckon."

The Tamaranean looked at him in surprise.

"And how do you that, friend Bard?" She asked. "Surely you have never-"

"You think I've never cried?" Bard ask her incredulously. Then he laughed shortly. "Sorry to let you down, but I'm not that tough. Matter of fact, I actually cried just a few of days ago." He quickly bit his tongue. He hadn't meant to say that, but something about Starfire's wide, trusting eyes always seemed to open him up. "Uh…I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone I said that." He added sheepishly.

"Your secret is safe with me!" She assured him. Then she began to giggle, and Bard couldn't help but join the bell-like sound with his own baritone laugh.

The gravel that covered that part of the roof crunched under a footfall, and Bard turned to see Robin standing there, staring at them. The cowboy knew he wasn't doing anything wrong. He _knew_ he wasn't doing _anything_ wrong, but some crazy instinct made him snatch his arm off of Starfire's shoulders and jump away from her guiltily.

Robin simply nodded slightly and turned to go back into the tower. His silent acceptance of what the Boy Wonder thought he saw made Bard angry, for some reason.

"No! _Hell_ no! This _ain't_ gonna turn into no soup opera! Robin, stop right there!" Even the cowboy himself was surprised at the authority in his voice. It was enough, however, to make Robin stop. "Come over here and sit down." Bard pointed at the spot on the ledge that he had just been occupying.

Robin stared at him for a moment, the slits of his eye mask wide. But then, almost like a scolded school boy, he bowed his head and trudged over to the aforementioned spot.

"Now, talk." Bard told them. He walked away to give them their privacy, but he stopped halfway and turned back. "I'll take your place on patrol. And after you talk this out, get some rest. You've been up for two days straight now." He paused. "By the way, Robin." He threw over his shoulder with a half grin. "I took the liberty of telling Star why you haven't been taking her on the patrols. Have fun!"

With that said, he left the two of them alone, taking to the air in search for Crimson Wolf.

The bomb exploded just a few minutes after midnight. Half of Jump City's main bridge collapsed into the dark water of the inlet, taking a dozen vehicles with it, and the other half was pounded by the heavy, rope-like supports that snapped and ricocheted from the blast.

Bard and Superboy were the first two to arrive, roughly at the same time.

"Oh, man…" Superboy muttered as he stared at the destruction.

**SCCCRRREEETCH!**

Cyborg pulled the T-Car to a stop and leapt out, quickly scanning the situation.

"Superboy!" He barked out, taking over as leader since Robin was not with them. "Go and help those people in the water! Bard, you're with me. Titans, go!"

Superboy streaked off like a bullet to the far side of the bridge where the road had fallen into the water. Bard followed Cyborg to the near side, onto the part that was still above water. Metal supports criss-crossed across the four lane road like huge, broken backed snakes. Some simply created long craters in the pavement. Others were far more deadly.

"You take the right side, I'll take the left!" Cyborg told Bard as they ran. "Save as many people as you can!"

"Help!" A woman shrieked as soon as Bard and the half robot had separated. Her yell was muted…she must be in a car!

It didn't take long for Bard to find it. It was a big, silver SUV and one of the supports had smashed right across the hood. A dark haired woman, perhaps thirty years old or so, was trapped in the driver's seat. She had a shallow cut across her cheek, but she didn't seem to be seriously injured. Bard quickly wrenched open the half crushed in door, helped the woman out and led her over to sit on the relatively safe curb.

"Are you all right, ma'am?" The cowboy asked her. She didn't _look_ too hurt, only one shallow cut on her face and a few abrasions were visible on her from what he could see, but he wanted to make sure he hadn't overlooked anything.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank yo-" Her eyes widened in absolute horror. "My sister's baby!" She shrieked, half hysterical. "She was in the backseat! I was babysitting her and-"

"Calm down, ma'am, calm down! I'll go get her! Stay here!"

Bard saw the baby seat in the back of the SUV as he ran towards it. The rear door of the vehicle was undamaged, so he easily opened it up and…his blood froze.

The tiny, dark-skinned girl in the baby seat couldn't have been more than two months old. The impact of the girder on the hood of the SUV had smashed out the rearview window and a large shard of glass had impaled itself into the infant's stomach. Dark blood soaked the girl's lower stomach and legs, and Bard half blanched at how much of the thick, red liquid could come from such a small body. The girl's eyes were closed. She must have been asleep, Bard figured, and it had turned into a slumber that she would never wake up from…

_My Lord…_

The cowboy felt his eyes start to burn, but he quickly blinked back the tears. He still had work to do.

"_NO!" _Bard spun and saw that the girl's aunt had come over. The whites of her eyes were abnormally large and tears rolled down her cheeks almost as steadily as a facet. "_Omigod! Omigod! Omigod!" _Her distraught, half insane eyes turned to Bard. _"Save her! Why are you just standing there? Do something! Do something damn it! Do __**something!"**_

The ebony skinned woman began to beat her fists weakly against his chest. Finally, when her will had left her and she slumped against him, Bard wrapped his arms around her and gave her as comforting a hug as he could give.

"You gotta save her…" She was whispering. "She's hurt…she needs to go to a hospital…she-she-she," the woman broke into a sobbing fit again.

While he was still rocking the woman back and forth, Superboy came back up to him.

"I-I finished searching the water, man." His voice was sick and low, and his face was as somber as death. "But…we were too late. All of them…every single one of them-"

"Search this side of the bridge, then." Bard told him as sympathetically as possible. "I need to take this woman to her family or something…"

Superboy nodded silently, his eyes wet. He shot off again.

After a few minutes, when the woman's sobbing had subsided into a somewhat shocked melancholy, Bard gently disentangled himself from her, took off his trench coat and wrapped it around her shoulders. Then, wordlessly, he took her hand and put his other arm around shoulders, slowly leading her away.

The first face Bard looked at when he, Cyborg and Superboy came back was Starfire's. She was smiling, but he saw right away that she and Robin had only rekindled their friendship; nothing more. At least, not yet.

"Thank you," she whispered to him sincerely.

Bard was glad that everything was all right between her and the Boy Wonder again, but, after all that he had seen that night, he couldn't show it. He simply nodded briefly in acknowledgment at her.

"Where's Robin?" He asked.

"After our talk, as you suggested, he went to his room to rest." Starfire answered him. "Should I go and-"

"No, don't go wake him. At least, not yet." He took in a deep breath. "There's been another bombing." He told her and Raven. He assumed Beast Boy was asleep.

"We know," Raven deadpanned and pointed towards the television. The news was on, and it was showing the bridge and the policemen tending to the gruesome, grim business of cleaning up.

"_-Wolf has struck again, this time on the Jump City Bridge."_. A woman was saying off screen. _"Although reports are sketchy as of yet, it's been estimated that over seventy people have died and several more are injured."_

"_Absolute horrible stuff, Tammie." _Though screen was still showing the scene at the bridge, Bard recognized the new voice as Vincent Caprell's, the man whom Crimson Wolf had sent his threat. _"You can actually feel the darkness and fear covering the city like a shroud. And, I regret to say, that Commissioner Walker and his group of teenage vigilantes have failed to protect us at all."_

Bard's eyes widened and his fists clenched. That pompous ass had the audacity to-

"Why that little-" He muttered out loud.

"He's right," Robin said, coming out of nowhere.

_How did he always do that?_

"Don't talk like that, man!" Cyborg said. "We got one of his bombs off the street before he could blow it up, right? And on top of that, we know what he looks like! This reporter guy doesn't care about the truth, he's just looking for ratings and-"

"It doesn't matter why he said it, Cyborg." Robin cut him off. "He right all the same. Crimson Wolf is a pro at what he does, maybe the best, and we won't be able to catch him unless he makes a mistake."

"So, what?" Superboy wanted to know. "We cross our fingers and keep patrolling?"

"That's not what I'm saying." Robin shook his head. "I'm saying we have to do something to force Crimson Wolf to make a mistake."

"Like what, Robin?" Starfire asked.

The Boy Wonder thought about it.

"Cyborg," he finally said. "I need you to record something for me…"

Crimson Wolf walked up the wooden stairs towards his apartment. He had stayed in an motel the previous night, but he refused to stay in one place too long. Why make it easy for the authorities to track him down?

Crimson Wolf was a professional. For years, he had trained his body and mind to notice and detect things most people never even knew existed. The elderly couple down the hall was cooking pork chops down the hall and a single mother's teen son was smoking marijuana with his buddies again. The brief smell of sweet perfume tickled his nose, and he knew that the single woman two doors down was back from the bar, probably chasing men. She had been interested in him when he first arrived, but he took on certain mannerisms and she quickly lost interest.

The terrorist arrived at his door and bent down before it to examine the frame. He had place thin, clear tape in various places on the door frame. Unless you knew exactly where to look, they were virtually invisible. But none of them were broken, so he knew that his new abode had not been compromised. He quickly took out his key and walked in.

As he put a kettle on the stove, he lit up a French cigarette of a brand that you could only buy in this god awful country at specialty tobacco shops. American cigarettes disgusted him, they always added all kinds of unnecessary additives. French cigarettes, on the other hand, contained nothing but pure tobacco. And America probably had the worst food in the world, besides Britain's. Did they _have_ put grease on _everything?_

Crimson Wolf shook his head. He couldn't let himself be distracted and, if he let himself think of all the reason he hated America, he wouldn't get anything done for a week. The kettle on the stove began to hiss, and he poured the hot water into a cup filled with Indian tea. Then, with a sigh of contentment, he sat down and turned on the television. He might hate America, but he _loved _it's media. Especially when he was in it.

"_For those just joining us, there's been another bombing here in Jump City, this time on the main bridge. New reports have come in, and the estimated death toll as of yet is seventy eight casualties. Dozens more are injured. Authorities expect that Crimson Wolf was behind the bombing, but he has yet to claim responsibility."_

The newswoman suddenly brought her hand up to her earpiece.

"_Breaking news, ladies and gentlemen. We just received a package here at the TBEP headquarters with the stylized 'TT' emblem of the Teen Titans. We're going to play the tape for you now."_

Teen Titans…that was the superhero group that little green man said he was a part of. Crimson Wolf had heard of the Titans when he researched Jump City for his contract, but he never thought they would be a problem. He sipped at his tea and leaned toward the television curiously.

The image of a masked and caped teenage boy came up on the screen, taped close up with nothing but a plain, white wall as the background.

"This is Robin, leader of the Teen Titans." The boy said. "Earlier this morning, me and the rest of the Titans abducted the criminal Crimson Wolf wishes to free. I want to assure the authorities that the criminal will be returned in time for prosecution. The criminal will remain in the Titans' custody, and Crimson Wolf, that psychopathic degenerate killer, will be frustrated in his attempts to get to him."

The Boy Wonder paused.

"Unless, of course, he has the guts to come to Titans Tower."

Crimson Wolf's face turned the color of his name and his shoulders shook with rage.

"I know that Crimson Wolf will be watching this, just like as a sick pyromaniac can't help but watch the flames of the fire he's lit with sick fascination. This is what I say to you."

The camera closed in until Robin's hard, masked face filled the entire screen.

"You think you are a professional, an expert in a lethal craft, but you have already proven that is not the case. You are simply a butcher. You are no different from the countless terrorists before you, cowardly little men who strike at a distance, deathly afraid of direct confrontations. You are not different. You are not superior. You are just another butcher in a long line of little, cowardly men acting out insane compulsions to make up for their own inadequacy. And like the insect you are, you _must_ be stepped on.

"Know this. Whoever you are, _wherever_ you are, the Teen Titans will find you. We will drag you out from under whatever rock you are hiding under and offer you up to the authorities, where you will spend the rest of you miserable, sick life in a cell. The Teen Titans are the exorcists that will rid this city of you. We _will_ find you, Crimson Wolf, and there is no place on this earth where you can hide!"

"_And there you have it. It seems if Robin and the rest of the Teen Titans have thrown the gauntlet down to Crimson Wolf-"_

"Haugh!"

Crimson Wolf flung the tea kettle into the television in a beat of rage, smashing its screen to pieces.

"I'm an insect to be stepped on, am I? We will see which one of us shall be exterminated, my masked friends!"

Five minutes later, he was in front of a pay phone.

"Vincent Caprell's office." A woman answered.

"This is Crimson Wolf. If Mr. Caprell is not on the line in ten seconds, I'm hanging up."

The reporter was on the other end of the line in four seconds flat.

"Crimson Wolf!" He said in an almost wheedling tone. "What-"

"Shut up and listen. Tell Robin and the rest of the Teen Titans that, starting tomorrow, there will now be _two_ bombings a day until the criminal in their custody is released. Tell them that Crimson Wolf has picked up the gauntlet."

The terrorist known as Crimson Wolf ripped the receiver out of the phone and flung it into the street as he walked away.


	43. Double Trouble

"_I have to get out of America. This country is contaminating me with it's stupidity." - Crimson Wolf_

_**CHAPTER FORTY THREE**_

_**DOUBLE TROUBLE**_

Crimson Wolf had called for a limousine and introduced himself as "Patrick Gohan of Bloodstone Records" and said that he would be conducting a business meeting in the Jump City Grand Hotel and would need to be picked up there. When he walked out of the huge, ornate hotel, the limousine driver saw a man with below the shoulder length blonde hair, and wearing an expensive, silk enlaced suit. He also had a pair of designer sunglasses on his face and carried an attaché case. The man paid in cash, so the driver didn't see fit to ask any questions.

The limousine took him to Club Ecstasy, _the_ hotspot for beautiful and rich people to see and to be seen. There was a long line on the street made up of people waiting to go in, and a big, brawny man who decided who was admitted stood at the door with his muscled arms crossed over his defined chest. The decision was sometimes made by pure physical appearance, or by fashion sense, and sometimes even by a carefully slipped twenty dollar bill. The bouncer took one look at the disguised Crimson Wolf, saw rock star or record producer written all over him and immediately allowed him inside.

Once in the place, Crimson Wolf stopped to take in the atmosphere. Loud rock music pulsated out of huge, black speakers. He saw the flashing, multicolored lights and the smells of cigarette smoke, cologne, perfume and human sweat filled his nose. Most of the people were gyrating on the dance floor, others were standing by the bar trying to impress members of the opposite sex and some that succeeded in their attempts were fondling and kissing each other at tables or in dark corners.

Crimson Wolf walked over to the bar and flagged down the bartender with a fifty dollar bill.

"What can I do fer ya, buddy?" The bald, short man asked him. "We have some mighty fine drinks."

"Just water, thank you." Crimson Wolf replied. "I'd just like for you to keep this case for me. The contents are very important and I wouldn't want to lose it here in all the confusion."

"Sure thing, man. I'll keep it behind the bar where I can keep an eye on it." The bartender snatched the fifty dollar bill and took the attaché case. "Damn!" He grunted. "This thing is heavy. What do you have in it?"

"High explosives," Crimson Wolf answered mildly.

"Ha! Yeah, right! If you didn't wanna tell me, you could've just said so! Don't worry 'bout it though, I'll take real good care of it."

"Thank you,"

"What's your name, handsome?" A redheaded girl with a tight, short, low cut dress that showed her ample cleavage and long legs purred at him.

"Patrick Gohan,"

"My name's Michelle." She smiled seductively at him from behind full lips. "What do you do for a living?"

"I'm a professional assassin."

Michelle giggled.

"Oh, really? Have you killed many people?"

"Oh sure, lots,"

She giggled again.

"So, you wanna dance?"

Crimson Wolf grinned and let the bimbo lead him out onto the dance floor. Michelle danced very close to him, making sure to have lots of eye and body contact.

"I have to go to the little boy's room." Crimson Wolf said over the blaring music. "Be a good little girl and go wait for me by the bar."

"Hurry back," she said, kissing him on the cheek before she left.

Crimson Wolf weeded his way through the dancing, sweating bodies and went out through the fire exit. In the adjoining alley, he ripped off his shades and wig and tossed them into a dumpster before crossing the street and stepping into a phone booth. He glanced at his watch.

"Goodbye, Michelle."

_**BOOOOOOM!**_

The bar exploded into flames behind him, sending debris and glass rocketing out into the street. At roughly the same time, a similar bomb was detonated behind the customer desk at the Jump City Grand Hotel. Crimson Wolf picked up the phone and dialed a number. After four rings, an answering machine picked up.

"_This is Vincent Caprell. I'm not home right now, but if you leave a message, I'll get back to you as soon as possible."_

**BEEP!**

"Vincent, this is Crimson Wolf." He said into the receiver. "Yes, I know where you live. Don't be alarmed, though. You and I are very good friends. I simply thought you might like to know that I just detonated bombs at the Jump City Grand Hotel and Club Ecstasy. I was going to blow up the hotel because this city had failed to release it's prisoner. But the explosion at Club Ecstasy was solely for Robin and the Teen Titans. If they refuse to give up their prisoner, I'll be forced to repeat this performance…as many times as it takes."

He hung up the phone and smiled. Then he stepped out of the booth and started walking down the street, humming giddily to himself.

Once again, Robin sat alone in the darkened Main Room with the television flashing across his face. The Boy Wonder heard something behind him and he swirled around.

"It's just me," Bard assured him. The cowboy's feet were bare and he wore a black, sleeveless t-shirt and gray jogging pants. His hair was down and swooped down his back and into his face. He walked over to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of Dr. Pepper. "So," he said to Robin when he came back over to stand next to the couch. "You couldn't sleep either?"

"I shouldn't have baited him." Robin told him. "He didn't fall into my trap the way I thought he would. I should have known that he wouldn't be impulsive enough to come here. Now the death toll will just go up; all because of me."

"Wait a minute, now." Bard said. "You're not responsible for anything Crimson Wolf does. And if you think you are, then the way I figure it, he's already won half the battle. You see, terrorists want to manipulate anyway they can. They'll do it through fear, uncertainty, and even guilt. If you tell yourself you're somewhat responsible for what he does, then you've fallen into _his_ trap." He paused. "Actually, I think your plan worked. You saw where he called in to accept your challenge. It wasn't really necessary for him to do that, right? And I bet you he wouldn't have had you not got under his skin."

Robin turned and stared at him.

"What did you used to do?" He asked suddenly.

"What?"

"You…know so much. You've seen a lot and you've experienced a lot. I want to know where."

"…." Bard looked away uncomfortably.

"_Welcome back to TBEP News. This just in, there have been __**two**__ new bombings early this morning. At approximately one A.M this morning, a bomb exploded at the Jump City Grand Hotel, which is still currently burning. We take you there live with Jake McGee. Can you hear me, Jake?"_

The camera cut to a shot of a young reporter in a trench coat standing across the street from the flaming hotel. In the background, a number of fire trucks were visible, with fire fighters manning streaming hoses. The still dark, early morning sky was lit up with the flashing lights of squad cars and ambulances. A small graphic at the corner of the screen showed the station's logo and read 'Live'.

"_Yes, Bill, I can hear you." _The man pressed his ear piece harder into his ear. _"But it's difficult with all the noise out here. I've been hearing sirens ever since I arrived. And then there's the screams of the people still trapped inside that horrible inferno. This is a site of utter chaos and mayhem as I stand here on the far side of the plaza, which is as close as the police will allow the public. Despite the early hour, there is a crowd of shocked, disbelieving citizens standing behind the barricades and watching this grisly scene."_

"_No one seems to know exactly what happened here." _The young reporter continued. _"But from what I can see, the whole left side of the building - that's your left and my right - has been completely obliterated and the rest of the building is on fire. Joining me now is fire fighter Dennis Zambroski. I should note that he had been out here for hours trying to contain the blaze and must be exhausted, but he had consented to talk to us as he takes a much needed break."_

The shot widened as a weary fire fighter stepped into the frame.

"_I know you must be tired, Dennis, and just a few moments ago I saw you taking oxygen…This must have been a dreadful night for you. How are the fire fighters holding up out there?"_

"_As well as could be expected, I'd say." _The fireman answered him. _"I gotta get back out there in a few minutes, after I've caught my breath…Jesus, it's absolute hell in there. At this point, we're just trying to save as many people as possible. Some have made it to the roof, where we're currently taking them to safety by helicopter. But that's not everybody. Not by a long shot..."_

"_Do you haven any idea what kind of bomb it was?" _The reporter asked.

"_I couldn't tell you that. I'm no bomb expert. But it had to be one hell of a blast. We figure it hadda been placed on the first floor because of the damage. The whole front of the building was destroyed and the rest of it looks like someone napalmed it."_

"_Who long do you think it'll be before you can get the fire under control?"_

"_I don't know. We're hoping in the next hour or so, maybe…but our first priority is to get the people out."_

"_The damage to the building looks extensive…" _The reporter suggested.

"_Yeah, it's a total loss. I mean…I don't know, but I don't see anyway they could keep it up. I could be wrong, I guess, but from what I've seen I guess it'll have to be demolished."_

"_Any idea of the death toll?"_

The fire fighter shook his head.

"_Oh, god, please don't ask me that right now. I don't even want to think about it. All I know is that I've been a fire fighter for fifteen years and this is the worst day of my life. Look…I've gotta go…"_

"_Of course," _The reporter said and the camera closed back in on him. _"Well, you heard him folks. He's been a fire fighter for fifteen years and this is the worst day of his life. I guess that says it all. Back to you in the studio."_

"_Thank you, Jake." _The screen cut back to the man in the studio. _"The second bomb was detonated at the Club Ecstasy. And as if that sight at the Jump City Grand Hotel wasn't grim enough, we are live there as well. Kim?"_

The shot showed an attractive brunette that stood in front of the wreckage of the nightclub.

"_Bill, behind me is what's left of Club Ecstasy. I really don't know how to explain the destruction here, so we'll just train our camera across the street so you can see it for yourself."_

"_My, God." _Bill said from off camera.

"_Words simply fail me." _Kim said. _"Only a short while ago, fire fighters finally got the flames out and, as you can see, there is nothing left but smoking ruin. It resembles a war zone out here. I've never seen anything like it. At this point, fire fighters and policeman are looking for bodies, but it's hard to believe anything could have survived in there. It's…just unbelievable."_

"_Susan," _Bill asked from the studio. _"Is there any way of knowing how many people were lost inside?"_

"_Bill, it's impossible to speculate. The club was packed though. It was a Saturday night, always their busiest time and many people were turned away at the door. I have an actual eyewitness to the explosion here with me. Could you please step over here, sir?"_

A young man in sharp, fashionable clothes stepped into the frame, but his leather jacket was covered with dust and his white shirt was filthy. His hair was in a state of disarray.

"_Your name is…?"_

"_Caleeti, Ben Caleeti."_

"_Mr. Caleeti. To explain your appearance, we should point out that you've been here all night helping with the rescue efforts."_

"_Yeah, that's right. I mean, Christ, I couldn't just leave, ya know? I had to do __**something!**__"_

"_Is it true that you were actually in line to get in when the bomb exploded?"_

"_Yeah, that's right. I ran outta of cigarettes, so I told the guy behind me to save my place while I ran across the street to get another pack."_

"_And that's what saved your life?"_

"_Yeah. Can you believe it? I was just gonna quit, too. Who says cigarettes kill? Just about everybody in the line was killed. Jeez, it's unbelievable. I'm __**still**__ shakin'."_

"_So you were in the convenience store across the street when the bomb went off?"_

"_Yeah. I'd just walked in to buy a pack of smokes. The thing went off not five seconds after I got inside. The door and windows got blown out, and the mirror behind the counter broke. You could actually feel it in there."_

"_Clear across the street?"_

"_Yeah, that's right."_

"_Was there anyone with you in the line? I mean, did you come alone?"_

"_Nah, I was here with a few of my buddies from work. But I guess they're all gone now. There's no way they could have survived. It's funny though, it still hasn't hit me yet. But that's why I stayed here to help. If I'd have gone home, I would have just fallen apart. I know it. I…I don't want to talk about it anymore…"_

"_Of course, Mr. Caleeti. Thank you for your time. You're a very lucky man."_

"_Yeah, I guess you're right. Funny thing is, though, I don't feel very lucky."_

"_Back to you Bill-"_

**CLICK!**

Bard had walked over, picked up the remote and clicked off the TV.

"I was watching that." Robin protested.

"I know,"

"Turn it back on."

"Uh-uh," Bard shook his head. "There ain't no reason for you to be punishin' yourself. It wasn't your fault. Why don't you go try to sleep. Lord knows you need it."

Robin shook his head.

"I'd only dream about it, Bard. The reality is bad enough. I don't need nightmares to add to it."

"But you gotta rest, Robin."

"No," Robin said, standing up. "There will be no rest for me as long as _he_ is still out there. I'm going to my room. I have work to do."

Bard watched the Boy Wonder fade into the darkness. Then he drained his glass of Dr. Pepper and headed to his room, where he would have nightmares of his own…

Early the next morning, Bard shot up out of bed, shivering. It wasn't because of a nightmare, though he had had his fair share of those during his sleep, he had just…felt extremely cold. Not on the outside, like on a snowy day, but… Something caught his eyes on the floor beside his bed. He quickly pressed on his glasses and picked up the piece of paper.

_Bard,_

_Come to my abode. I have something I want to discuss with you. If you're as holy as Zillah thinks you are, you'll come…alone._

_Brother Blood_

The note, naturally, was written in blood.

_Now __**that's**__ original, Sebastion…_

Bard frowned. He might be fairly new to this superhero thing, but he knew a trap when he saw one. Super villain vampires that had sucked out your powers and threatened to kill you didn't exactly invite you to Sunday dinner. Speaking of which…wasn't _today_ Sunday?

And what was it that Brother Blood wanted, anyway? If he had been in his room to deliver the message, why hadn't he taken care of business right then and there? Things just weren't adding up…

And what was this Zillah business? Had he converted her? Or maybe he was holding her hostage? In any case, the cowboy knew he had to go.

'_Looks like I'll missing church today…again.' _He thought as he dressed, opened the window of his room, summoned up a wind and took to the sky.

Cyborg was out in the garage, waxing the T-Car. Normally at this time of morning, he'd be playing game station with Beast Boy or, lately, working on the T-Trainer. But after all that he'd seen last night, he wanted to be alone with nothing too heavy to fill his brain.

**CL-CLANK!**

Cyborg jumped and turned, but it was only the blow torch falling off the work table. All that had been going on lately must have been making him jumpy. But then, something struck him as strange. He hadn't used that blow torch in over a month. It should have been inside-

"!"

Before the big robot could react, someone had flipped open the panel between his shoulder blades and fried his circuits. He tried to call out, but a hand clamped firmly over his mouth first. Slowly, Cyborg's eye flickered off and he toppled forward.

Crimson Wolf gently laid him down on the ground to avoid any unnecessary noise.

"I think you should get those spark plugs looked at." Crimson Wolf smiled viciously as he twirled his electric rod and pushed a button that made it retract. Then he paused. "I have to get out of America. This country is contaminating me with it's stupidity."

With that said, he continued on into Titans Tower.

"Dude, dude, dude, dude-Yes! Oh, yeah! I'm good! I'm the greatest! Go Beast Boy, you're the man!"

The green changeling happily sat cross-legged in front of the TV, his pupils dilated, mashing furiously on his video game controller. He maneuvered his Chinese fighter around and impaled nameless soldiers with his spear.

"Ah, man!" He moaned. "I'm gonna beat the record and nobody but me is gonna see it!"

"Even _you_ will not see it, green man."

"Huh?"

**WHAP!**

Beast Boy spun around just in time to get karate chopped right in the throat. He tried to cry out, but the only thing that emitted from his mouth was a low croak.

"Ha!"

**BAM!**

The next attack hit dead on against Beast Boy's temple, and the little hero was out like a light. Crimson Wolf turned to continue on his merry way, but he stopped and looked at the television. Now with no one controlling him, the Chinese fighter was being wailed on by the soldiers. In the bottom corner of the screen the kill count read: 998.

"Hmph," Crimson Wolf sniffed as the fighter died. "Amateur."

"Azarath, Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Zinthos. Azarath Metrion Mmmmph!"

A damp rag was pushed over Raven's mouth and nose from behind. She struggled, but it was no use. Whoever was holding her was stronger than she was. The smell of the rag began to permeate her conscious. It was sweet. Sickeningly sweet. So sweet…

Crimson Wolf lowered the dark, knocked out girl to the ground and crept away wordlessly on silent feet.

_To the dogs with witty puns…_

Robin sat at his computer, going over veterans of the Vietnam War with criminal records and crosschecked them with the nick name or code name of 'Crimson Wolf'. So far, he was having no luck at all.

**BEEP! BEEP!**

The Boy Wonder sighed and opened his communicator. The last thing he needed right now was more bad news. He opened it up and saw Starfire's face.

"_Robin,_" she said. _"Have you seen Bard this morning?"_

"_I saw him late last night, but not this morning."_

"_He is not in his room."_

The Titan Leader thought about it.

"_Today is Sunday, right? He's probably just at church. Was there something important you needed him for?"_

"_I simply wished to thank him for last night. His assistance in our situation was most productive and helpful."_

"_I should probably thank him, too." _Robin admitted.

"_Robin, perhaps you need a break from the researching? I would very much like to converse with you." _Despite knowing Robin as well if not better than any of the other Titans, she said it almost bashfully.

"_I don't need a break, Star. I-" _He stopped when he realized he was looking at _two_ communicators. He blinked, rubbed his eyes and looked at the computer screen. The text was so blurred in his vision that he couldn't make out anything. "_Then again," _he contradicted himself. _"Maybe I do. I'll meet you on the roof in five minutes."_

"_Oh, glorious occasion!"_

Robin smiled in spite of the current events to himself and snapped the communicator closed.

"Oh, glorious occasion!" Starfire exclaimed happily.

"Not as glorious as you think, child."

**ZAP!**

Crimson Wolf took her down with his electric rod. He smiled to himself as he replayed the conversation over in his mind. So Robin would be on the roof in five minutes, huh? He'd be meeting someone there, all right, but it wouldn't be this redhead.

"Hey!" Crimson Wolf turned around quickly to see a black haired teen in a leather jacket and a red and blue jumpsuit coming towards him. "What are you doing here? What-" The teen froze as he saw Starfire's inert body. And that was all the time Crimson Wolf needed to aim his electric rod at him.

**ZAP!**

"Ugh…" His jacket smoking, Superboy collapsed to the ground.

As Crimson Wolf dragged the two bodies out of sight into an adjoining room, he breathed a sigh of relief. He had read up on the Teen Titans before coming here for Verquez, but there had been no information on this new hero. He was lucky the teen had shown himself…It could have been very bad otherwise.

When Starfire and Superboy were out of the way, Crimson Wolf looked up. The other Titans were out of commission. Now all that was left was to take out Robin, torture him for information and find out where Verquez was. Who knows? He might even enjoy it.


	44. Wrong Decision

"_Perhaps I'll disembowel you, tie your entrails around something and kick you off the high roof you have so conveniently provided me." - Crimson Wolf_

_**CHAPTER FORTY FOUR**_

_**WRONG DECISION**_

Robin opted to take the stairs up to the roof instead of the elevator since he hadn't had much time to train with Crimson Wolf and his atrocities terrorizing the city, and his metal tipped boots clanked loudly against the steps. As he reached the door to the roof and stepped out into the sunlight, he was surprised that Starfire was not already waiting for him. He shrugged it off and walked towards the ledge.

"Rrrgh!" Robin suddenly grunted as someone grabbed him in a chokehold from behind.

"It's nice to finally meet you," someone grunted into his ear before tightening his grip.

The Boy Wonder tried to struggle, but his assailant was just too strong. In a last ditch effort, he brought both of his legs up, kicked off the ledge, vaulted backwards and back flipped over his attacker. The sudden momentum shift threw both of them to the ground, but it also made his attacker lose his grip. Both of them rolled away and leapt up, facing off.

"Crimson Wolf," Robin growled when he recognized him. He whipped out his communicator. "Titans, to the roof! Crimson Wolf-"

"Indeed, I am here." Crimson Wolf interrupted him almost pleasantly. "The one you thought didn't have the _guts_ to come here." He whipped out and detracted his electric rod and shot a beam of electricity right at Robin's communicator. The device sparked and blew up in his hand.

"Argh!" Robin flinched.

"There is no need to call your friends, Robin. I have already…disposed of them all."

The slits of Robin's eye mask narrowed hatefully.

"What did you do to them?" He demanded harshly. "If you've hurt them…"

"I'll let _you_ wonder about that." Crimson Wolf told him smugly. He twirled his electric rod and held it in a combat pose over his head. "Now let's see how good you are. Then, after I beat you, you can tell me where Verquez is. If you do it the easy way, I might just make your death quick and relatively painless. But if not, it could get quite messy…for several hours."

The Boy Wonder grit his teeth, his body a pose of defiance.

"Haugh!"

He jumped forward and tried to smash his metal staff down into Crimson Wolf's skull, but the assassin easily blocked it with his rod. Robin landed quickly and begin to throw lightening quick jabs with the butt of his staff, but Crimson Wolf spun his electric rod in front of him like a shield, deflecting the blows.

**CL-CL-CL-Cl-CLANK!**

Crimson Wolf put a bit more strength into his last block, and it put the Boy Wonder off balance. The terrorist spun and swept at his legs with his rod, but Robin performed an backhand spring over the strike.

"You're going down, murderer!" Robin yelled as he panted slightly. "We're gonna settle this right here, right now!"

"Nothing is ever truly settled, my masked friend; not until you are in a grave…and I think I will settle your account now!"

Crimson Wolf threw his electric rod straight up in the air, and Robin couldn't help but to follow it with his eyes.

"Ha!" The terrorist spun three hundred sixty degrees and, out of nowhere, a large, glinting throwing knife was tumbling end over end towards the caped crusader.

**DRIP…DRIP…DRIP…**

Bard walked carefully down the rocky passage that was about as big as a small hallway. The cowboy held an apple-sized fireball on the tip of his finger that illuminated the cave around him and pushed back the darkness. Water dripped from the ceiling somewhere, and it measured the seconds with tired monotony

**BAAAAARRRRDDDDDD**

Bard immediately dug in his boots and looked around, but he saw nothing but rock and the palpable darkness beyond the reach of his light. Finally, he shrugged it off to his imagination.

**JJJJJJOOOONNNNNNNNNNNYYYYY**

All right, that _really_ got his attention. He held up his light higher to see further into the darkness, but he saw nothing but more rock.

"Anyone there?" He called softly down the passageway. But his only reply was the haunting echoes of his own voice.

**TTTTUUUURRRRNNNN BAAAAACCCKKK**

Bard looked around, but he still didn't see anyone. He was getting frustrated.

"All right," he said exasperatedly. "If someone's here, come on out. If not, shut up!"

He stood still for a long time, but no one showed themselves and he heard no more messages. He sighed and carefully continued on.

**BEEP! BEEP!**

Bard jumped and was startled for a moment, but then he realized it was just his communicator. He dug the device out of the inside pocket of his trench coat and flipped it open.

"_Titans, to the roof!" _Robin image called out. _"Crimson Wolf-"_

The Titans leader was interrupted by someone. Bard could hear the unrecognizable voice, but he couldn't discern any words. Suddenly, the picture was filled with snow and the sound was nothing but static. Bard looked down at his boots, thinking.

So Crimson Wolf was on the roof of Titans Tower. But Brother Blood had written that note to him and clearly mentioned Zillah. It was possible that he was holding her captive or something…But how could you hold someone who could teleport?

Bard stood there for several moments wracking his brain for a solution. Finally, he made up his mind.

Time seemed to slow down as the throwing knife glinted and tumbled end over end at Robin. The Boy Wonder's eyes widened, but then he leaned impossibly far backwards. To keep from falling onto his back, he lifted his arms and planted the butt of his staff into the ground just above his head. Balancing himself precariously thus, he could do nothing but watch as the edge of the knife's blade missed his nose by no more than an inch and embedded it's tip into his metal staff.

"Hiiiiiiiya!"

Robin threw his lower body upwards, strained his biceps as he pushed up on his steady staff and back flipped over it. Even before his feet touched the ground, he arced his metal staff sharply upwards, loosing the knife and sending it right back at Crimson Wolf.

"!"

Crimson Wolf's eyes widened and he jumped to the side to avoid the blade, but he wasn't fast enough. The sharp edge sliced his cheek as it spun by.

"Y-you…dodged my knife!" Crimson Wolf spluttered, bringing his hand up to where dark, red blood poured down from just underneath his left eye. "No one…_no one_ has ever done that…" The terrorist suddenly steeled his shoulders and seemed to regain his composure.

"You are good," he admitted. "Very good. But in the end, you are still only an amateur. A gifted amateur, perhaps, but nevertheless an amateur. But I am a _pro!"_

As if to emphasize that last word, he leapt at the Boy Wonder and swung his electric rod at his head like a baseball bat. Robin ducked under it and tried to sweep Crimson Wolf's legs with his own staff, but the terrorist leapt over the weapon and, while still in midair, kicked Robin hard in the chest. Robin was knocked to the ground and, as quick as a flash, Crimson Wolf was sitting on his stomach and throttling his throat with the electric rod.

"Now," Crimson Wolf mused to himself as Robin struggled feebly. "How will I extract the information I need from you?" He pushed his rod harder against Robin's throat, but he paused as if he were thinking about his problem. "Perhaps I'll disembowel you, tie your entrails around something and kick you off the high roof you have so conveniently provided me."

Even though he was fighting for breath, Robin visibly blanched.

"You could consider it in the nature of a scientific experiment, if you like." Crimson Wolf continued with a sadistic smile. "I want to find out if your entrails will break, or if you'll bounce back instead."

During Crimson Wolf's taunting diatribe, Robin had been reaching desperately towards his utility belt.

**CLICK!**

"What-?" Crimson Wolf looked down at his chest, and a metal, circular object branded with a 'T' was strapped to his chest.

**CHING!**

Crimson Wolf released his hold on Robin as ice suddenly developed his entire lower body and most of his upper body. The cold solid ended just under his chest.

"Hyaaaaa!"

Robin leapt back to his feet and ran towards the terrorist with his staff held over his head, ready to deliver the finishing, knockout blow.

"Wait!"

The Boy Wonder stopped and eyed Crimson Wolf coldly.

"Why should I?" Robin snarled at him. "After all that you've done, you deserve no mercy."

"No, I do not." Crimson Wolf admitted. "But perhaps your friends do." Even as he said it, he kept his only free hand carefully behind him…the one that held his electric rod.

"Talk!" Robin demanded. "What have you done?"

"I planted a bomb in this tower." The terrorist told him. "It was for insurance. My contract clearly states that, if I cannot free Verquez, then I should kill him. I suppose he had a few unsavory friends who wish to remain anonymous."

"Where is it?"

"It's, it's, it's," Wolf pretended to chatter. "It's…right here!"

**ZAP!**

"Ugh!" The electric blast knocked Robin backwards and only the ledge saved him from being blown off the roof. He sat stunned with his back against the ledge, trying to shake the cobwebs out.

Meanwhile, Crimson Wolf took this time to zap the ice that restrained him. As soon as he was free, he rushed at the downed Robin. The cursed boy was too dangerous to fool around with any longer. He'd finish him off, and then he would look for Verquez on his own.

Robin weakly made it to his feet and saw Crimson Wolf rushing him at the last second. He dropped back down to the ground, and the terrorist had too much momentum to stop himself. Robin watched as his legs disappeared over the edge. He cumbrously climbed to his feet and looked down. Crimson Wolf had caught onto a ledge perhaps fifteen feet down from the ledge, and his other hand still held his electric rod.

"Crimson Wolf!" Robin called down as he uncoiled a grappling line. "Take this!"

Crimson Wolf stared at the dangling rope as if it were a live snake, and then he looked up venomously at Robin He raised his electric rod…

**ZAP!**

Robin let go of the cord and ducked back down behind the safety of the ledge as the blue electricity arced towards him. A moment later, he heard Crimson's Wolf fading scream. It was not a scream of fear, however. It was a scream of rage.

Robin shook his head and decided not to look down. He had seen enough gruesome scenes in Gotham City, thank you very much. But something ate away at him. Why hadn't Crimson Wolf taken the line? But then he remembered an old folk story he heard when he was younger.

It was the story of the frog and scorpion. One day, the scorpion asked the frog to take him across the river. The frog refused, claiming that the scorpion would sting him.

"Of course I won't sting you." The scorpion had said to the frog. "If I kill you, I'll die, too."

Seeing this as reasonable, the frog agreed to take the scorpion across the river. But halfway across, the scorpion stung him.

"But why?" The frog croaked with his dying breath. "Now you'll die, too!"

"Yes," the scorpion said just before he sank under the water. "But it is my nature."

Robin shook his head. Now wasn't the time to think about old stories. He had to find the bomb Crimson Wolf had planted in the tower!

"Hey, Robin!" A humored, southern twanged voice called out. "Did you, by chance, just happen to drop something?"

Robin turned and saw Bard floating in the air on invisible winds and holding Crimson Wolf by the scruff of his neck. The Boy Wonder nodded appreciatively and threw the cowboy a pair of handcuffs.

"Cuff him and take him to the ground!" He told Bard.

"Where are you gonna be?"

"I have a date with a bomb," Robin threw over his shoulder before running back into the tower.

After cuffing the terrorist, Bard flew him down to the beach and pitched him unceremoniously into the sand.

"I never found any record of you when I researching the Titans." Crimson Wolf said with an almost professional curiosity as he lay in the sand. "Why not?"

"I'm listed as a member on the website." Bard shrugged.

Crimson Wolf stared incredulously up at the cowboy.

"The Teen Titans have their own website?"

Bard laughed shortly.

"You didn't even check it out?" Bard asked him. "Boy, you must be an amateur."

Crimson Wolf's face turned red, but then he gave up and leaned his head back listlessly into the sand.

**BEEP! BEEP!**

Bard flipped open his communicator and saw the Boy Wonder's masked face.

"Robin?" He asked in surprise. "I thought your communicator was on the fritz?"

"_Crimson Wolf destroyed it. But I'm using Starfire's. The security system in the tower is down, so we won't be able to use it to find the bomb. We'll have to find it manually. I'll start at the top and you start at the bottom. Make sure Crimson Wolf can't get away before you come, though. Robin out."_

Bard closed his communicator and looked hard at the terrorist at his feet. How could he keep him there? The idea suddenly came to him. He wasn't exactly sure if he could do it, but he curious to find out if he could.

_#That same old chilly wind will blow like a winter squall, and I'll begin to feel the chill of an early Fall#_

Thick ice developed Crimson Wolf's body and only stopped just below his neck.

"Ice?" The captive spat. "Ice again?"

Bard looked at him funny, but then he ran off towards the tower. He entered through the garage where his Harley, the T-Car and the R-Cycle was kept. He went for the stairs, but something brought him up short.

That something was big, metal and lying face down on the hard floor.

"Cyborg?" Bard said in concern and kneeled down to examine his friend, but something else caught his eyes…There was a briefcase underneath the T-Car. He reached and drug it out into the open where it was more accessible.

The cowboy flipped open his communicator.

"Found it," he reported tersely without any preamble.

"_You found the bomb?"_

"Yup," Bard answered. He reached down to pick up the case and show it to him through the camera of the device.

"_Good, wait for me to come down there. And whatever you do, don't-"_

The case was heavier than Bard had thought. He had only picked it up perhaps two feet off the ground before it slipped from his grasp, hit the floor and popped open.

"_open it."_

_Aw, shit!_

Bard looked down at the open case. It was filled to the brim with C-4, and there was a timer on it.

_0:34_

Dropping his communicator carelessly, he snatched up the case, burst out the double doors of the tower and called up a wind to pick him up into the air.

_0:28_

Bard flew off over the ocean. When he judged he was far enough out for the blast not to hurt anyone, he prepared to drop the explosives. But just before he could, he noticed a small fishing boat underneath him.

_ARRRRRGH!_

_0:19_

Bard took off in the opposite direction, further out to sea. Finally, he found open water and flung the case down into the water.

_0:09_

Now it was time for the cowboy to get the hell out of Dodge. He turned back towards land and summoned up as much wind as possible to take him back to the tower.

**B-BOOM!**

For some reason, despite it's heavy weight, the case of C-4 floated on top of the water. The concussion of the blast was unbelievable, and the force knocked Bard from the sky and sent him barreling into the sea like a gunned down jet.

**SPLASH!**

Spluttering, Bard popped back up to the surface and treaded the water. His hat was floating a few feet away. He swam over to it and placed the waterlogged hat on top of his equally soaked hair. He called up a wind to pick him, and a few minutes later he was back on the sandy beach beside the tower. Robin had been there waiting for him.

"Good job," the Boy Wonder congratulated him as the cowboy plopped down on the beach.

"Yeah, I-" Bard started to answer. But then he realized something. He reached into his trench coat. "Sonuva-" He half cursed as he threw his soaked cigarettes and lighter onto the sand.

"It shouldn't matter, should it?" Robin asked with a broad grin. "I mean, you _were_ in the process of quitting, right?"

Bard glared at him darkly.

"Well," the usual determined, leader look came back onto Robin's face. "I'm going to take Crimson Wolf in." He pointed about twenty yards down the beach where the terrorist was incased in his cold prison. "The others all are knocked out. See if you can't revive them while I'm gone."

He paused thoughtfully.

"Thank you, Bard. You came home from church at just the right moment."

Bard opened his mouth to reply to that, but the Boy Wonder was already walking away.

_Aw, well…_

Bard stood up, dumped the water out of his black cowboy hat and started back towards the tower when-

"Holy Bard,"

Bard swirled around so fast that his wet, dark brown ponytail whipped around and slapped him on the side of his neck.

"Zillah?" He stated the obvious as he saw her. With her hood down, she looked like she always had.

"Indeed," she answered him softly.

"But…weren't you with Brother Blood?" He asked, remembering the message the vampire had sent him. "I got this note this morning and-"

"I know, Bard. It was I who delivered the note."

Bard's shoulders slumped.

"You're not…working for him now, are you?"

"I would sooner die first." But there was no conviction in the mystic's voice. Only something that sounded an awful lot like…regret? Sadness? "He held me captive, so I had no real choice. But had he asked me to complete sinful tasks, I would have not consented."

Silence…

"I am glad you received my message, Bard. And you made the right decision."

Bard's wet eyebrow shot up.

"But Brother Blood forced you to-"

"That was not the message I was referring to." Zillah corrected him. "I sent you a message through the caves."

Bard's eyes widened as he remembered the haunting whisperings he had heard while walking down the cave path.

"That was you? But how?"

"I can teleport more than my body, Bard. I can also teleport my voice. You made the _right_ decision in turning back."

The cowboy's brow furrowed. She sure had put a lot of emphasize on that 'right decision' business…

"Yes," Zillah agreed. "And I did it purposely."

Bard started in surprise. He had forgotten about her ability to read minds.

"Brother Blood hates you, Bard." Zillah continued. "I think he hates your holiness. He wants to make you suffer horribly. And he has chosen to do it through me."

"What did he do to you?" Bard asked it apprehensively.

"Brother Blood…had poisoned me, Holy Bard. I have merely ten hours to live before it takes me away…" She held up a brave expression on her face…for about five seconds. Then tears flooded her eyes as she threw herself into Bard's outstretched arms.

Bard comforted her physically, but his mind was a million miles away. Despite what Zillah had said, he _hadn't_ made the right decision when he turned back to come to Titans Tower. He had succeeded in trading Zillah's life for Crimson Wolf's.

_God, forgive me…_


	45. The Beginning of the End

"_That hurt, Raven! But for some strange reason, it also turned me on..." - Superboy_

_**CHAPTER FORTY FIVE**_

_**THE BEGINNING OF THE END**_

___**9:32 **___

Bard was in his room, standing before the large window and looking out at the angry ocean and the black rain clouds that roiled threateningly above. He had yet to dry off after his 'swim', and his trench coat dripped water onto the floor. He had discarded his hat onto the bed and his damp hair fell into his face. Water from the dark brown strands dripped onto his cheeks, simulating tears.

Zillah was going to die, and it was all his fault. Though he had barely known her, the girl treated him like…she had been his sister. For some reason, that thought troubled him, but then he shook it off.

Zillah, more than anyone, had complete trust and faith in him. She believed with all her heart that he was holy and that he would always make the right decisions. But he had failed her. And it didn't really come to much of a surprise to the cowboy. Her earnestness had almost convinced him that he actually _was_ holy, but he should have known better. He should have known better…

"I should have known better…" He whispered aloud.

**SWISH!**

The door to his room opened behind him.

"How is she?" The cowboy asked without bothering to turn around or even see whom he was talking to.

"Cyborg's scanning her in the lab now." Robin's voice drifted forward to him. "Who is she, anyway?"

"A friend,"

"Are you okay?" Robin asked Bard's back.

"I'm fine,"

"If you wanna talk-"

"I said I'm fine, Robin."

Bard sensed more than felt or saw Robin's small nod at that.

"Well, Cyborg should be finished examining her soon, if you want to come see her." He paused. "We _will_ heal her, Bard." The Boy Wonder left after saying that, and Bard heard the 'swish' as the door closed behind him.

Bard suddenly saw the reflection of himself in the glare of the window, and he sighed.

_**9:21 **_

"So you say you were poisoned?" Cyborg asked Zillah as he stared down at the papers that held the medical information his machines had collected after his scan. Zillah sat on the edge of a table. Her hood was down, and her dark hair fell down past her shoulders against her purple robe. The two purple charkas that adorned her head glinted off the artificial light of the room.

"Yes," she answered the robot quietly. "Brother Blood poisoned me."

"Did you consume the poison orally?"

Zillah nodded.

"He made me drink it."

"What did it taste like?" Cyborg wanted to know.

"It had no taste." Zillah supplied helpfully. "But it burned my throat as I swallowed it."

Cyborg nodded professionally.

"All right, I'm going to work on it some more. In the mean time, you need to get some rest. I'm sure we can find-"

"She'll rest in my room." Bard said. He had just walked in a moment earlier.

"I do not wish to inconvenience you, Holy Bard." Zillah objected.

The mystic girl calling him holy made Bard angry, for some reason, so what he said next came out more harshly than he intended it to.

"You're going to rest in my room and that's final." He said it firmly, in a tone that did not encourage argument.

Zillah nodded demurely.

"I will rest there, then." She started for the door.

"I'll take you." Bard offered.

"I know where it is, Bard." Her emission of 'holy' was painfully obvious. Had she read his mind? "I do not need assistance."

When she was gone, Cyborg looked at the cowboy curiously.

"What's wrong with you?"

Bard ignored the question.

"Did you find the poison yet?"

"I've put her through every scan I know of, man." Cyborg told him. "But as far as I can tell, there's nothing wrong with her."

"She ain't lying." Bard snapped at him sharply.

"…I didn't say she was, dawg."

"…"

"Why don't you go get some rest why I study these some more?" Cyborg suggested, holding up Zillah's medical papers. "You'll be the first one to know if I find something."

"When," Bard corrected with a mutter before exiting the room.

A few minutes later, the cowboy had arrived back at his room to check on Zillah. The only problem was, she wasn't there.

"Zillah?" He asked the empty air. Sighing, he set off to look for her.

_**9:15 **___

"So who is this chick, anyway?" Beast Boy asked in the main room.

"Bard said she was a friend of his." Robin told him.

"Dude, that's kinda vague."

Robin held out his hands helplessly.

"He didn't go into any specifics. I think he's going through some kind of emotional crisis."

"Over what?"

"This," Raven said, walking in. She held up a piece of paper. "It's a message from Brother Blood. I found it in Bard's room."

Robin took the message from her and quickly scanned it with his eyes.

"Why is it that all the villains want Bard?" Robin mused with a sigh.

"What the matter, jealous?"

Robin glared at the green changeling.

"Okay…" Beast Boy said nervously. "All these villains are from the city, right? Maybe the cowboy hat just rubs'em the wrong way or something…"

The Boy Wonder continued to glare.

"Uh…" Beast Boy sweat dropped.

"But do we not already know the reason for Brother Blood's animosity towards our friend?" Starfire spoke up. "He wishes for Bard to take the plunge in the matter of his father's murder."

Robin blinked as if he had forgotten that.

"I'm going to have to keep an eye on that cowboy." He muttered to himself. "He gets into too much trouble when he runs off by himself."

Suddenly, the topic of their conversation popped his still dripping head into the room.

"Is Zillah in here?"

"She is not." Starfire answered him. "But if we-"

But it was too late, the cowboy was already gone.

"…."

_**9:08 **___

Bard retraced his steps back down the hallway, muttering to himself the whole way. What was that blasted girl thinking? He only casually glanced into his room as he past it and…

"Where have you been?" He demanded of Zillah after he came back to his doorway.

"I was not particularly tired. I do not think the toxin within me had taken effect yet. Instead I-"

"Not tired?" Bard blew up. "What in the world do you have between your ears? Wool? You're gonna need all the strength you can get to fight off the poison 'til Cyborg comes up with an antidote!"

Zillah seemed particularly unfazed.

"Instead," she continued where she left off. "I went out and got you these." She held out a lighter and a pack of cigarettes to him.

Bard stared at her gift and, of course, felt like the absolute scum of the planet.

"T-thanks…" He mumbled in a low voice. "But you still need to get some rest! I'll meet you in my room as soon as I come back from a smoke break, okay?"

"Could I perhaps come with you, Bard?"

The cowboy opened his mouth to object.

"I will rest as soon as we return." She assured him.

Bard sighed in defeat.

"Fine. But as soon as we finish, you're getting in that bed and staying in it. Got it?"

Zillah nodded.

"All right," Bard went on. "Let's go-"

Bard's stomach churned as he reoriented himself. He was suddenly standing beside Zillah on the roof of Titans Tower.

"How-"

"As I said before," Zillah told him. "I can teleport more than myself."

"Obviously," Bard agreed as he sat on the ground and leaned his back against the ledge. Then he fished Zillah's gifts out of his trench coat pocket and lit up a cigarette. "Ah," he sighed as if he were just sitting down after a long day's work.

"Perhaps you should wear my robe, Bard." Zillah suggested to him. "The air is chilled and you are still wet. I would hate if you became sick."

The cowboy stared at the girl, and he wasn't sure whether he should laugh or cry. Here she was, poisoned with just a few hours to live, and she was worried about _him_ catching a cold!

"I do not fear death." She told him calmly, obviously reading his mind. "Death is not the end, but the beginning. I have known that for a very long time now."

"Well, nevertheless, don't give up yet." The cowboy told her around his cigarette. " I'm gonna try to keep you here as long as possible, hear?"

Zillah's eyes suddenly softened.

"And why is that, Bard?" Her tone made the question terribly important, and her eyes filled it with all kinds of implications.

Bard saw this all at once, and he looked away towards the blue horizon and exhaled smoke.

"Because you're my friend." He finally answered. "I would have done the same for Starfire…or Beast Boy."

"Beast Boy?" Zillah asked, trying to hide the disappointment on her face.

"The green one," Bard explained to her. "After you've rested for a while, I might just introduce you. He's a good guy and, if nothing else, he's cheap entertainment."

"I have seen him. How did his skin become that way?"

"I don't know," Bard shrugged. "We've never really talked about it. I think it's some kind of side affect from his powers, but I don't know that for certain."

"What about the others?" Zillah pressed. "Where do they come from?"

Bard laughed shortly.

"I ain't got the foggiest notion." He answered her candidly. "We…we don't talk about our pasts to each other. I think some of us might want to, but Robin doesn't think we should. He's the leader, so we respect his decision."

"Do you agree with it?"

"Well, that's not really the question. I respect it, so-" Bard was brought up short as he looked into Zillah's violet eyes. He sighed. "…Yes, yeah I do. I agree with it one hundred percent."

"Why?"

Bard decided not to answer. He took one last, deep drag from his cigarette and thumped it over the edge of the roof.

"C'mon," he said, blowing smoke from his nose. "Let's go put you to bed."

_**8:46 **___

"How is she?" Robin asked as Bard came into the lab.

"Pretty good actually." He answered. "For now, anyway." He looked up at the monitor that Robin and Cyborg were seated in front of. It showed a graphic of the blood running through Zillah's body. "Have you found the poison yet?"

"Not yet," Cyborg answered. "But we've been doing some research. There are a few poisons in the world that are just undetectable."

"Ricin is probably the most well known." Robin added.

"Ricin…isn't that what terrorists like to use?" Bard mused.

"It's happened more than once, yes."

"You think Brother Blood gave Zillah Ricin?"

"Nah," Cyborg shook his head. "The symptoms don't match up. Ricin takes a couple of days to kill off someone, and the person infected has high fever and suffers from incessant vomiting."

"Then what's Zillah poisoned with, then?" Bard demanded.

"We don't know," Robin admitted. "The strangest part about this whole business is that Zillah is showing absolutely no symptoms. There are a few fabled undetectable poisons that allegedly don't show up in the bloodstream and attacks the bones or organs of the victim, but it's yet to be proven that any exist."

"Great," Bard muttered despondently. "How are we supposed to find a cure to a poison we're not even sure exists?"

"I'm gonna tell you the truth, dawg. It's not looking real good right now."

Bard swiveled his head to stare at Robin.

"I thought you said we could heal her." He accused him.

"He didn't say it's impossible." The Boy Wonder defended himself and Cyborg. "And even if it was, we've done the impossible before. We're not going to give up, Bard. We're doing everything we can."

The cowboy sighed and looked away.

"All right," he said. "What am _I_ supposed to do?"

"Just stay with her and make her as comfortable as possible."

"And let us know the minute she develops any symptoms!" Cyborg added.

Bard turned towards the door, but then he stopped.

"Thanks, ya'll." He said earnestly. Then he solemnly left the room.

_**8:35 **___

"Can you play that?" Zillah asked Bard as soon as he walked into his room. She pointed to the wooden, acoustic guitar that stood in the corner from her lying position on his bed.

"I certainly don't keep it there for decoration." Bard told her as he came over to the bedside. He put his palm against her cheek, then the back of his hand against her forehead. She wasn't hot. She wasn't cold. She felt normal. Completely normal. What kind of poison didn't have any symptoms?

"Could you play something for me?"

"…Sure," he walked over, picked up his guitar and sat down on the small couch.

He didn't play her a song. Instead, he played her a melody he had created one night back in the orphanage. It started out simply and slowly, his fingers playing steady, single string notes. The tone went from low, to high, and to low again. The sound that emitted from the guitar reminded him of tears falling. Then, he began to put in counter notes. What had once seemed like tears falling, now sounded like a cascading waterfall. He continued playing it for a few minutes, and then went back to the simple, first melody before ending the tune with a soft strum of all the strings.

The cowboy had picked that song for a very specific reason. It was the most relaxing tune he had in his repertoire. He looked over at Zillah and, sure enough, she was sleeping peacefully. He stood up and started to put his guitar back in the corner, but then changed his mind and sat back down.

He began to pick the strings again and, as the melancholic sound filled his ears, his mind drifted away and words sprung to his lips.

_#It was a sunset in the morning_

_A snowy day in the spring_

_A flame doused before its time_

_By the pouring rain-#_

"What was that?"

Bard jumped noticeably at Zillah's voice.

"I thought you were asleep."

"I wasn't," Zillah answered, sitting up against the headboard of Bard's bed. "What was that you were singing?"

"It was just…" He paused. "It was just a song I was writing, that's all."

Zillah stared at him compassionately.

"It was about me, wasn't it?"

"No," he looked away uncomfortably. "At least, not entirely. It was about someone else, too."

"Who?"

Bard sighed deeply. He stood up, replaced his guitar in the corner and headed for the door.

"Get some rest, Zillah. I'll be back to check on you later." He told her.

Then he left her alone.

_**8:19 **___

The cowboy was definitely in a pensive mood when Superboy ran across him in the hallway.

"What's the deal with your girlfriend?" The Boy of Steel asked. "She doing okay or what?"

"She's not my girlfriend. But, for now at least, she's doin' all right."

"Robin and Cyborg figure out what's wrong with her yet?"

"Not yet," Bard shook his head. "They're still working on it, though. They're working on the theory that the poison is undetectable."

"Any idea where the stuff came from?" Superboy wanted to know.

"Hell, we don't even know what it is, much less - Hachoo! - much less where Brother Blood got it." Bard sniffed. "For all we know, the poison might have come straight from those caves he calls home."

"Man…are you okay, cowboy?" Superboy looked at Bard closely. "You look like a dead man walking."

"You're just jealous of my rugged good looks and sexy ways." He said it automatically, though there was no enthusiasm in it. "I think I might have a little bit of a cold." He added reluctantly.

"Sucks for you." Superboy announced candidly around a toothy grin.

Then Raven, with her hood down around his shoulders, came down the hallway from the opposite direction.

"I need to talk to Bard." She said to them.

"All right," Superboy agreed casually, leaning against the wall as if planning to stay a while.

"That means _leave._" Raven clarified through clenched teeth at the Boy of Steel.

"Hmph, your loss, sweet cheeks." Superboy grinned at the sorceress and sauntered off down the hallway-

**ZAP!**

"Yeow!" Superboy jumped and clutched his butt from the zap of black telekinesis. "That hurt, Raven!" He paused thoughtfully. "But for some strange reason, it also turned me on..."

**ZAP!**

"All right, all right! Jeez, I get the point!" He continued on along the hall.

When he was gone, Raven turned back to Bard.

"I want you to be careful around Zillah." She told him emotionlessly. "I know you trust her, but I don't. There's something wrong about this whole situation."

Bard made absolutely no attempt to muffle his groan as his hand came up to rub exasperatedly at his cheek. He should have known this was coming…

"Let me get this straight," his tone was filled with weariness and frustration. "You pretty much tell me that we can't be anything more than casual acquaintances, and now you're worried about my well-being?"

Raven opened her mouth to reply.

"Ever since I got here, all I wanted you to be was my sister." Bard continued, cutting her off. "But you don't want that, for some reason. All my life, I've been alone. When I had a problem, I had to deal with it all by myself. Then, when I finally find a family member who I could share my sorrows…_and_ my joys with, you don't want any part of it. Well, you know what? I reckon there shouldn't be any middle ground. Either be my sister or leave me the hell alone!"

The cowboy locked eyes with his half sister for a long moment, His blue irises were filled with anger and a kind of pleading, and Raven's were filled with surprise. Finally, Bard stepped around her and started to stomp off.

**ZAP!**

"Oof!"

Bard suddenly found himself pinned against the wall of the hallway by a giant, black hand. Raven walked up to him, her eyes glinting.

"You selfish, _selfish_ man! You don't see anybody but yourself!" Raven wasn't yelling. In fact, she almost whispered. But her voice was so quiet that it made it sound that much more dreadful. "I wasn't just trying to warn you, _Jonny_, I was concerned for all of us. The Teen Titans as an collective whole. There's a stranger here in our home, and that's dangerous. For all of us."

Silence…

"If you want me to treat you like a stranger, I will." Raven continued. "I will always be your sister. Blood ties cannot be changed. But I cannot allow myself to be anymore than someone's friend. If you can't accept that, then maybe you shouldn't have become a Titan at all."

With that said, Raven released his hold on him and floated down the hallway. Bard slumped to the floor and watched his sister's…watched Raven's form disappear around a corner in the dark corridor.

_**8:02 **___

Bard had made his way to the main room and went into the kitchen to grab himself a can of Dr. Pepper. But he stopped short when Starfire was there as well, mixing something in a bowl. On an impulse, he walked over to her.

"Hey, Starfire…Can I talk to you for a second?"

"That is a very short time, Bard, but I will orate with you for as long as you wish. What did you wish to discuss?"

"You…have a sister, right?" Bard asked. "Darkfire?"

"Yes, but her name is Blackfire."

"Sorry," Bard apologized quickly. "Well…how do you deal with her not being there for you? I mean, I never see her around so-"

"I would be surprised if you had, since she is in prison for crimes against a galaxy that the Terrans of this planet have yet to discover."

Bard blinked.

"It is true that her absence is painful to me." The Tamaranean continued. "But I find solace in my friends. The Titans have become my family, Bard, and I cherish each of them deeply."

Bard thought about that.

"Do you think, Starfire, that one day…maybe you and your sister will be reunited? The way a family should be?"

Starfire put down her bowl to turn and look squarely at the cowboy when she answered.

"I…truly do not know. But I hope that, one day, that will happen. My heart would almost burst with joy! But it will be Blackfire's decision to whether or not that will ever happen. So all I can do it hope. In the matters of the heart, I believe that, in the end, all you have is hope."

_In the end, all you have is hope…_

"Titans, trouble!" Robin ran into the room. "Starfire! Go tell the others to meet me downstairs!"

"What is it?" Bard asked reluctantly once Starfire had flown off to fetch the others.

"It's Fang," The Boy Wonder answered. "They were transporting him to another prison so they could hold him more securely. The Titans usually oversee things like that, but with the Crimson Wolf business going, I guess the warden decided to try it on his own."

"Who's Fang?"

"Kitten's old boyfriend. He's-" Robin paused. "Well, you'll find out soon enough."

"You want me to come along?" Bard asked, a little surprised. "Shouldn't I stay here with Zillah?"

"No," Robin decided after a moment. "She should be okay by herself. Besides, Fang's always a handful, so we could use all the help we can get. C'mon!"

As Bard rushed off after him, a bible verse suddenly sprung up in his mind.

_And now these three remain: Faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love._

The cowboy admitted to himself that he loved Raven; that he loved his sister. Now all he could do was pray that faith and hope would carry him through.


	46. Odd Couple

"_Dude, I'm totally serious! Whenever we say something like 'That was easy' or 'He wasn't so tough', the bad guys always gets back up for some more!" - Beast Boy_

_**CHAPTER FORTY SIX**_

_**ODD COUPLE**_

_**7:29**__ TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

"Hachoo!" The black and chrome Harley swerved left.

"Hachoo!" Then right.

"Hachoo!" Back to the left.

Bard sniffed and brusquely wiped his nose with the sleeve of his trench coat as he followed Robin's R-Cycle down the twisting streets of Downtown Jump City. There was no common illness worse than a cold…from the cowboy's point of view, anyway. Most illnesses incapacitated you, such as the flu. They were inconveniences, of course, but you stay in bed for a few days and then you get better. Colds, on the other hand, were really irritating. They made you feel miserable, but not quite so miserable as to make you stay in bed.

"Hachoo!" Bard muttered a string of curses as he wiped at his nose again.

Robin pulled his R-Cycle to a stop in front of an alley and Bard got his first good look at Fang. He blinked.

"…Whoa,"

Superboy flew up and stared at the abomination as well.

"I know you see some ugly things in this business." The Boy of Steel said. "But on my ugly meter of one to ten, this guy ranks about a fifteen."

"He's not gonna win any beauty contests anytime soon, that's for sure." Bard agreed.

The man spider had either ignored them or hadn't noticed them yet. He was totally focused on the seedy looking man he had pinned against the wall of the alley with his two human hands.

"Where is he?" Fang demanded of his captive. "Tell me!"

"I-I-I-I,"

"Fang!" Robin yelled out. "I've got about seven reasons why you should put him down now!"

The Boy Wonder whipped out his metal staff, twirled it in a blur over his head and fell into a combat pose.

"One!"

"Two!" Starfire hovered in midair, her hands glowing bright green with star bolts.

"Three!" Beast Boy yelled before morphing into a emerald gorilla. He let out a bestial roar and beat his huge, hairy arms against his muscled chest.

"Four!" Cyborg transformed his arm into a sonic cannon and, charging it, pointed it's business end at Fang.

"Five…" Raven's eyes glowed gray in the darkness of her upturned hood, her cloak fluttering light behind her.

"Six!" Superboy flew up and arced a long back flip through the air before settling back down to earth and flexing his muscles beneath his black leather jacket.

"Seven!" Bard drew his laser pistol from the holster at his waist, spun it around his finger and aimed it at Fang with his left arm straight out to steady it.

"Oh, yeah?" Fang snarled at them after wrapping up his hostage in a web cocoon. "I-"

"Ha-choo!"

Everyone sweat dropped.

After blinking all of his eyes…several times, Fang finally cleared his throat.

"Oh, yeah?" He repeated as if nothing had happened. "I've got-"

"Hachoo!"

Fang growled.

"As I was saying!" He glared menacingly at the cowboy. "I've got eight reasons why-"

"Hachoo!" Bard sniffed.

"To hell with it," Robin muttered under his breath. "Titans, go! YAUGHH!"

Robin leaped in first, his metal staff a blur over his head as he descended at the villain. But Fang ducked under the weapon attack and, using his spider legs as crutches, dropkicked the Boy Wonder away with both of his human feet.

Beast Boy tried to charge his rear in the form of a green rhinoceros. But without even looking, Fang back kicked him with one his hind legs.

**CRASH!**

The mutated changeling crashed through a wall of a nearby building.

**ZAF! ZAF! ZAF!**

**ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!**

**WHUUUUUUUR!**

Starfire hovered high above the street, pelting the man spider with a bombardment of green, fiery star bolts. Bard added to it with his laser pistol, and Cyborg topped it off with a blue blast from his sonic cannon. Fang lifted up two human arms and two spider legs to shield himself from the three-pronged attack, and that's when Superboy flew in.

The Boy of Steel grabbed the mutated arachni-sapien and, using his supernatural strength to lift him, flew straight up into the air. Once they were above the rooftops, Superboy pivoted, spun his hips and flung Fang right back down at the ground.

**CRAAAACK!**

The concrete of the city road was left with a crater when Fang smashed into it, and rocky, grainy gravel rained down from the sky. Fang weakly tried to get back to his feet, but Robin was ready.

**WHAP!**

The Boy Wonder cracked him firmly in the face with his staff and Raven wrapped him up with black telekinesis.

"Well," Bard mused as he looked over at the contained man spider. "That was easier than I thought it would be."

"No!" Beast Boy almost shrieked, running over to the cowboy. "Don't ever say that!"

Bard cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Dude, I'm totally serious!" The green changeling exclaimed. "Whenever we say something like 'That was easy' or 'He wasn't so tough', the bad guys always gets back up for some more!"

Bard squinted at him behind his black eyeglasses.

"You're just being superstitious." He told him. "I just said it and that Fang fella is still-"

"_HRRRRRAAAAAUUGGHH!"_

**CHING!**

Fang broke out of his obsidian prison and the dark shards of the telekinesis exploded outwards. Bard turned away and pulled his armored trench coat over his head, and the other Titans performed similar evasive maneuvers.

"See!" Beast Boy demanded. "I told you-"

But the cowboy wasn't listening. Conjuring up a red fireball in his drawn back hand, he charged right at the mutated monster. But just as he was bringing his arm forward to toss the fire at him, Fang saw him coming.

**ZAP!**

Every single muscle in Bard's body froze and locked up and the fireball he was about to launch at Fang was, instead, tossed straight up into the air, barely missing Starfire's floating form.

Bard was no stranger to being paralyzed. If not for the golden cross pendant around his neck, his left arm would be totally nonfunctional for the rest of his life. But the cowboy remembered that awful period of time when he thought his arm was dead for good. The feeling he experienced when he realized a part of his body just wouldn't work was indescribably horrible. And now that his entire body was that way, that feeling was multiplied infinitely.

"Bard!" Starfire called out in concern. She and Raven tried to come to his aid, but Fang leapt up, spun and batted both of them away with his whip-like spider legs.

Bard couldn't move a muscle; couldn't even blink. But his eyes were open. He had been looking up at Fang when he charged, so at the very top of his vision, he could see his wayward fireball coming back down…right at him. He tried with every ounce of his willpower to get his body to move or duck or something, but his limbs simply wouldn't obey him.

The fireball was coming inexorably closer and, if he could have, the cowboy would have closed his eyes and tensed up. He could actually feel the heat of it on his face as it came closer…closer….closer…

**ZZZZZZZZHT!**

Bard blinked incredulously.

…he could blink now. Whatever Fang did to him seemed to be wearing off just a bit.

The cowboy was somehow back in Titans Tower in the main room. But he quickly figured out how when he saw-

"Zillah!" Bard exclaimed through numb lips.

The purple robed girl nodded.

"Can you move?" She asked him in concern.

Bard instinctively tried to shake his head, but in vain.

"No," he forced out. "Not…yet…anyway."

"Good,"

"Well, until-" Bard stopped himself and raised his now functioning eyebrow at the girl. "Good?"

"Yes, good." Zillah's voice sounded slightly differently now. It was still calm and wise, but the tone of benediction had left it. "It will make it easier for me to obtain this."

She reached out and nonchalantly took away the golden cross pendant from around Bard's neck. Even though he was still temporarily paralyzed, he could feel the energy drain away from his left arm.

"I should probably apologize, Holy Bard." Zillah continued almost indifferently. "I have been deceiving you all this time." She paused and pretended to ignore Bard's look of surprised disbelief.

"Tell me, Bard." She asked. "What do you want more than anything…besides your precious Amber?"

Bard's eyes were bulging so far out of their sockets that he wouldn't have been surprised if they made contact with the dark lenses of his eyeglasses.

Zillah looked him over shrewdly.

"You seem to be surprised." She observed. "Did you forget that I can see into your mind? But since you refuse to answer, I will go ahead and tell you. You want you and your half sister Raven to be close." She briefly touched her purple, hooded cloak. "Haven't you ever wondered why I wear this? Certainly you didn't see anyone else in Neo Zandia - the caves - garbed in this color, correct?"

The blood ran away from Bard's face.

"You did it-to resemble-Raven." He accused her numbly.

"It seems I was not mistaken when I once told you that you were perceptive…though perhaps not perceptive enough." Zillah told him. "In short, I became your surrogate sister to gain your trust."

Bard felt sick. Sick and powerless.

"So that's why…Cyborg couldn't find…the poison." He concluded. "There was no…poison to…begin with."

"That is where your skill of perception ends." Zillah told him. "There was a poison…it simply wasn't me who was infected."

"Then…you poisoned…me?" That would certainly explain his cold, after all.

"Of course not," Zillah contradicted the cowboy. "We need you. But to obtain you, we needed you to feel alone, so you would be vulnerable. There was one in this tower whom I perceived might change that."

Bard's blood ran cold.

"Star…fire?"

"Indeed," Zillah nodded. "But we can speak more of that later. As of now, my chief concern is to take you to Neo Zandia before your friends return….and before Fang's paralyzing attack wears off."

**ZZZZZZZHT!**

And the main room of Titans Tower was empty.

_**6:48**_

Fang scampered speedily across the front of buildings in retreat, his legs sticking easily to the glass and metal. He had evaded all the Titans and left them far behind…all the Titans, that is, except for Robin, who was doggedly following him on that motorcycle of his. Why did that punk have to be so damn persistent?

As he fled, the man spider stole a glance behind him down at the annoying masked hero.

**P-P-POW! SWWWWWWWW!**

Every single one of Fang's eyes widened. That meddling Boy Blunder had used his hi-tech motorcycle to shoot rockets at him! He leapt away just in time, and the rockets exploded into the side of the building. Concrete and metal debris, along with a sizably amount of glass, fell towards the street…right at a woman pushing a baby carriage.

Fang smirked as Robin went to save them. His do-gooder ways let him escape easily. When he figured he was far enough away to where Robin couldn't possibly catch up with him, Fang settled down on a rooftop to catch his breath.

"I hear you have been looking for me, Fang." A distinguished voice called out calmly.

Fang tensed as Slade, dressed in his customary black and brown, stepped out into the open.

"You have been looking for me, have you not?" The masked villain continued. "Well, now you have. What can I do for you?"

Fang regained his composure somewhat.

"I want to see Kitten." He demanded menacingly.

"Is that so?" Slade turned away and looked up with his single eye at nothing in particular. "…Pity, she does not wish to see you."

"I know you. You're nothing but a manipulator." Fang said it toughly. "I've seen you do it in the past with that rock girl. But you're not gonna manipulate me, and you're not gonna manipulate Kitten. Now let me see her!"

"Hmm…very well, then."

**ZAP!**

Fang fell to his knees and Kitten, armed with the laser rifle that was almost as big as her entire body, stepped out from behind him. The blonde girl walked around to his front so the mutated spider could look up at her.

"Kitten…"

The girl leveled her rifle at his face, so close that he could look down it's barrel with all eight eyes.

"Kitten…No-!"

**ZAAAAP!**

_**6:29**__ TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

Most of Raven's mind was concentrated on inventing new swearwords as she flew through the air, pursuing Fang in vain. The villain was long gone from her sight, largely because of the fact that the mutated spider had webbed her…to Beast Boy…again. If Bard's god truly was real, he, (or perhaps she), had a very sadistic and twisted sense of humor…

"Raven!"

Raven stopped in midair and turned to see the purple robed Zillah standing on a nearby rooftop, waving her arms to grab her attention.

"Aren't you supposed to be in the tower?" The dark sorceress demanded of her as she descended.

"Yes, but Bard has been abducted! Some strangers came into the tower and-"

"Nonsense," Raven scoffed. "No one can get past the security of the tower."

"But it's the truth!"

"…" Zillah took a deep breath.

"You do not trust me, do you, Raven?"

Raven merely stared at her icily.

"Very well, then." Zillah sighed theatrically. "I suppose I have no choice."

Raven's slender eyebrow rose questioningly.

**ZZZZZZHT!**

**WHAM!**

Zillah materialized in the air directly behind Raven and kicked her solidly between the shoulder blades.

"Ugh!" Raven fell forward, splayed out on the concrete roof.

**ZZZZZZHT!**

Zillah disappeared again and, when she reappeared, she was kneeling beside Raven holding the dark sorceress' head in a sleeper hold.

Raven eyes glowed gray. If this girl thought she could take her down as easily as this, she was sadly mistaken…

"Azarath, Metrion-"

"Wait!" Zillah's normally calm voice was like a crack of a whip. "We have Bard." She said into Raven's ear. "If you fight, he dies."

"Prove it, witch…"

Zillah reached into her robe with one hand and held something in front of Raven's face. It was Bard's gold cross pendant.

The unholy glow slowly left Raven's eyes.

"Wise decision," Zillah murmured.

**ZZZZZZZZZHT!**

And the two girls were gone.

_**6:22**__ TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

"Okay, let me get this straight." Beast Boy said to the other Titans where they were gathered in the main room of Titans Tower. "We get called out to lay the smack down on Fang, Bard gets paralyzed and disappears in thin air, then we find Fang KO'ed on a rooftop, and then Raven disappears, too! Dude, this is just too freakin' weird!"

Starfire flew into the room.

"Zillah is missing as well." She announced to them.

Robin nodded tersely and turned to Cyborg, who was sitting in front of the computer console.

"Any luck, Cyborg?"

"I'm gettin' nothing, dawg!' The robot replied as he finished typing. "Either Bard and Raven are somewhere that are blocking their frequencies, or-"

"Or their communicators have been destroyed." Robin finished grimly.

Cyborg nodded slowly.

"Our friends," Starfire fretted, her green eyes wide. "I am worried about them."

But Robin wasn't listening to her. Instead, he was deep in thought with his gloved hand absently rubbing his chin.

"All of this started when Zillah got here…" He mused.

"Maybe someone was chasing Zillah and decided to take Raven and Bard, too?" Cyborg suggested.

"Maybe," Robin conceded. "But not likely. I doubt all of this is some huge coincidence."

"Then you…accuse Zillah?" Starfire asked him.

Robin nodded.

"How does Bard feel about her?" He asked the Tamaranean.

"He considers her a trusted friend."

"How about Raven?"

"Raven…does not trust her."

Robin thought about it.

"I'm gonna have to go with Raven's instincts on this one." He decided finally. "Heaven knows we'd all be a lot better off if we would have in the past…"

There was a somber silence.

"Starfire?" Robin's voice cut through it like a knife. "Do you know where to find Zillah?"

Starfire looked down as she wrung her hands together.

"The caves…"

_**5:58**__ TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

Bard stood in his cell within the underground community of Neo Zandia. The paralyzing attack Fang had hit him with was starting to wear off. Everything above his waist was now functional again, with the exception for his left arm. But that was because Zillah had taken away his cross pendant. The useless appendage dangled beside him as he bent over and tried to massage feeling back into his legs with his one good arm.

As his body saw to that tedious task, his mind began to wander.

How could he have been so stupid? So gullible? Zillah had duped him, and worse than that, she had done it easily. She could read his mind, so she knew what kind of relationship he wanted with Raven. Raven wasn't willing to offer him that kind of commitment…but Zillah was. She acted like everything Bard had wanted in a sister. But that was the keyword: Acted.

The rattle of a key in an iron lock brought Bard back to reality. The reinforced door opened and Brother Blood strode into the cell. Behind him, a black garbed guard silently closed the door, leaving them alone.

"We meet again, Bard." Brother Blood almost purred. "You've been well, I trust?"

Bard resisted the sudden, violent urge to leap forward and gouge his eyes out.

"What do you want, Blood?" He spat out instead.

"I'm simply here to introduce myself to my guest."

"We've already met." Bard pointed out. "And that was once too many."

"It wasn't you to whom I was referring."

The cowboy's eyes narrowed.

"Then who?"

**ZZZZZZZZZZHT!**

Zillah suddenly appeared in the cell along side Brother Blood, and with her was…

"Raven!" Bard said, his voice full of concern. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," she grated before turning to glare at their captors.

"Ah," Brother Blood said in delight as he walked over to stand before the dark sorceress. "She's even more beautiful in person." He gently ran his finger along her jaw line.

Every single feeling muscle in Bard's body suddenly grew taut, and something seemed to explode within his brain.

"Relax," Brother Blood told him, turning away from Raven. "I do not release my passion with those who do not worship." He smiled faintly. "You are a lucky man, Bard." He added.

The cowboy raised an eyebrow in confusion, but Brother Blood was already leaving.

"Forgive my abrupt departure." He called back to them over his shoulder as the guard outside opened the door for him. "But I have a wedding to plan."

"Wedding?" Bard repeated incredulously after he was gone. "Who's the unlucky girl?"

"Raven," Zillah answered him calmly.

"Raven?" Bard burst out.

"I am _not_ wearing white…" Raven droned.

"I am afraid you misunderstood me." Zillah explained patiently. "It is not Brother Blood who will be wed to Raven." The mystic girl paused. "In a way, Bard, your wish will come true."

Bard stared and felt his heart drop into his stomach as a dreadful suspicion rose within him.

"It is you who will marry Raven." Zillah told him. "She is destined to be your wife, and you her husband."

Stunned silence…

"How's that for 'close'?" She added with a grin.


	47. Marriage, Poison and War

"_Hey guys! Ever wonder what a paper airplane feels like?" - Superboy_

_**CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN**_

_**MARRIAGE, POISON AND WAR**_

_**5:49 **__TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

Robin, Starfire, Superboy, Cyborg and Beast Boy were still in the main room of Titans Tower…

"Those caves," Robin pressed to Starfire. "Can you lead us there?"

"I…I believe so, yes."

"What are we waiting for, then?" Superboy asked, standing up from where he had been leaning nonchalantly against the wall. "Let's go show'em what happens when you mess around with the Titans!"

"Right," Robin nodded at him. "Starfire, lead the way."

"One hundred and four!" Starfire chirped. She took to the air and flew towards the door-

**GRRRRUUURL! **

"Arh!" The Tamaranean cried out in pain. She hit the floor and, in the fetal position, clutched at her stomach.

"Starfire!" Robin called out, rushing over to her.

"Dude, what's wrong with her?" Beast Boy asked, peering down at her over Robin's crouched form.

Cyborg walked over and was already typing on his forearm to perform a scan, but Starfire popped back up to her feet.

"I am…fine?" Starfire's hands slowly made their way to her stomach. Her face brightened. "Friends! I am uninjured!"

"What happened, Star?" Robin asked, his voice tense.

"Perhaps it was the…'end of the gestion'?"

"I'd say drinking mustard _would _do that to you, Robin." Beast Boy quipped.

"It never has before…" The Boy Wonder mused.

Robin's eye slits seemed to be lost in thought.

"Change of plan!" He finally announced. "We need to make sure Starfire is okay before we let her leave the tower. It could be a liability. Cyborg, let's take her down to the lab and-"

"Um, aren't you forgetting somethin', Robin?"

The Boy Wonder stared at the robot blankly.

"Starfire's the only one who knows how to get to those caves." Cyborg pointed out. "If you strap her down to a bed-"

"Heheheheheh," Beast Boy chuckled.

"Then she won't be able to take us to find Raven and Bard." Cyborg finished.

"I am truly undamaged, Robin" Starfire assured him earnestly. "I could easily lead you to the Brother Blood's hideout."

Robin thought about it, his face creased with indecision.

"Think about it, man." Superboy said to him seriously. "You can't really choose the health of one Titan over the _lives_ of _two_ of'em, right?"

Robin glared.

"Just saying…" The Boy of Steel held up his leather jacketed arms harmlessly.

"He's got a point, Robin." Cyborg told him. "And we're not even sure if Starfire has a serious ailment. It could just be a Tamaranean form of a stomach ache or somethin'."

"I am truly fine now, Robin." Starfire said. "There was but one moment of pain and-"

Robin suddenly jerked his hand up, signaling for silence.

"Dude, what's up?"

"The tower…" Robin said, looking around. "It's too quiet…"

The Titans stared curiously at the Caped Crusader, but Robin ignored them. Instead, he went over to the computer and starting typing away furiously.

_**5:34 **__TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

"How's that for 'close'?" Zillah added with a grin.

Bard blinked slowly.

Raven blinked slowly.

Bard turned and stared at Raven.

Raven turned and stared at Bard.

Both of them looked back at Zillah.

"_**WHAT?"**_ They burst out in unison.

Zillah merely grinned wider.

"Ahem," Bard sweat dropped and cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Uh…could you repeat that one more time? I could have _sworn_ you just said-"

"What would be the purpose of me marrying….him?" Raven demanded, giving the girl a look that spoke quite eloquently of lingering, painful death.

Zillah squinted at her.

"Though I am loathe to admit it, you are wise beyond your years, Raven. I am surprised you have not yet figured it out." She paused. "Both of you are half demon." She explained. "Therefore, together you could produce-"

"A monster…" Raven whispered.

"But why?" Bard cut in. "How in the world could you think that God wants you to do this?"

Zillah opened her mouth to respond, but Raven beat her to it.

"Because her god is not the same as yours." She answered him. Then she turned directly to Zillah. "You and Brother Blood…you worship Trigon, don't you?"

Zillah smiled faintly as she looked at the two of them.

"You may have received the looks," she winked at Bard. "But your sister inherited the brains."

She managed to get under the skin of _both_ siblings with that remark.

"But I must go." Zillah continued. "I have an attack to start."

"What?" Bard asked sharply.

"Against your friends, of course." She told him calmly. "It would not be in our best interests if they came looking for you, now would it?" Her lips pursed together. "Thank you for letting me stay in your tower, Bard. The computers you have are quite interesting."

The cowboy's jaw clenched, but Zillah was already going on.

"Your security means nothing to me, but I suspect your friends would notice an army sneaking up on them, would they not?" She turned to leave, but she stopped. "And don't try to escape. As soon as the wedding is…consummated, I'll teleport the antidote into Starfire's body. And just to make sure…"

She stepped forward and took away Bard's laser pistol and collapsible staff. Both his legs and his left arm was paralyzed, so there wasn't a whole lot the cowboy could do about it. Then the mystic looked over at Raven and her eyes narrowed in concentration.

**ZZZZHT! **

Bard's cross pendant was suddenly around Raven's waist like a belt, with the actually cross complimenting it like a buckle in the center.

"Now that I have taken care of that…."

**ZZZZZZHT! **

And she was gone.

"All right," Bard said to his sister when they were alone. "Make one of your teleporting hole things and let's go."

Raven stared at him blankly.

"Didn't you hear her?" He asked. "Starfire's been poisoned. If we can let Robin and Cyborg know about it soon enough, they might be able to come up with an antidote. Then we can come back here before anyone misses us. After that, we can just sit tight until Starfire's been cured."

"What if Robin and Cyborg can't cure her?" Raven wanted to know.

"…I hadn't thought that far ahead yet." The cowboy said it ruefully.

Raven turned and raised her hands.

"Axarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

"….."

"….."

Nothing happened.

"Axarath, Metrion, _Zinthos!"_

Still nothing.

"Uh…" Bard sweat dropped.

"My powers…" Raven said, looking down at her waist. "Your necklace is negating them."

"Great," Bard muttered sarcastically. "Well…Just push it down off your legs." He suggested. "Your hips aren't _that_ wide…"

Raven glared at him.

"Ahem," Bard cleared his throat nervously. "That didn't exactly come out the way I meant it to…"

But the dark sorceress was ignoring him. Instead, she was concentrating on trying to push the pendant down over her hips.

"It's no use." She droned after several minutes of trying. "It's just too tight."

"Pull it up, then."

Raven started at him obviously.

"…."

"…"

"…Oh," The cowboy actually blushed.

_**5:40 **__TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

"Dude, what are you doin'?" Beast Boy asked Robin, who was still furiously typing at the computer.

"I'm performing a scan on the tower, it'll only take-" Robin's eye slits suddenly went wide. "The tower's security measures are down!"

"All of them?" Cyborg asked incredulously.

Robin nodded.

"I'm afraid so. Titans!" He barked out. "Go to-"

But the Boy Wonder was cut short when the tremors of an explosion at the bottom of the tower knocked them to their knees.

**BOOM! **

"We have company." Robin said it grimly. "Titans, go!"

The Titans scattered in different direction to get to the bottom of the tower. Superboy, easily the fastest of all of them with his superhuman speed, beat them down by quite a large margin. He took a surprised moment to stare outside from the bottom floor, and then he popped open his communicator.

"Uh…you were right, Robin, we _definitely _have company." He paused. "I… I think I'm gonna need some backup."

"_We're on our way!" _Robin's voice came back through the device. _"What's the situation?" _

"Lots of those black robed guys." Superboy replied. "Brother Blood's goons…lots of them."

"_How many?" _Robin panted slightly, obviously running.

"They're too many to count, man."

"_Estimate then," _

"All right," Superboy looked out again. "I'd say about a thousand."

"_A __**thousand?**__" _Robin echoed in disbelief.

"Maybe two,"

What Robin said next was uncharacteristic of him, and definitely didn't bear repeating.

Not too long after, he, Starfire, Cyborg and Beast Boy had joined the Boy of Steel down at the bottom floor. There was stunned silence as they stared out at the land before the Tower. Or more accurately, what _would_ have been the land before the tower…had it not been absolutely covered with black robed cultists.

"There's too many of them to fight, Robin." Superboy said. "Even for me."

The Boy Wonder anxiously chewed the inside of his cheek.

"That's never stopped up before." He said finally, resolve laced in his voice. "Fight anyway."

Brandishing his metal staff and with his black and yellow cape flapping dramatically, Robin ran forward through the double doors and flung himself into the dark, living, wriggling mass of evil.

"_HAUGH!" _

The impossible battle had begun.

_**5:25 **__TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

Bard and Raven sat despondently side by side on the only narrow cot in their cell. Fang's paralyzing attack had finally worn off, and Bard could actually move his left arm a bit…As long as he sat near Raven and the cross pendant around her waist, anyway. He absently scratched his nose and realized that his cold had magically disappeared. That was good news, to be sure, but it was much akin to winning the lottery being diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Raven said something to him that brought him out of his thoughts, but he hadn't heard it.

"What?" He asked.

"What was this 'close' business Zillah kept talking to you about?" Raven repeated her question.

Bard sighed.

"Zillah can read my mind." He explained. "And she knows that, more than anything else, I wanted me and you to have a close relationship. I didn't exactly mean it like _this_ though. I think we talked about incest once before, right?" He added with weak humor.

"…." Raven, obviously, didn't find it amusing.

"All right," Bard said, his voice serious again. "I guess I _could_ break us out of here with my powers. But if we did that, Zillah wouldn't send Starfire the antidote and Cyborg and Robin would _have_ to come up with cure on their own in less than…" He closed his eyes and thought about it. "Than about less than six hours. Do you think they could do that?"

"I don't know…"

"On the other hand, if we go through with this marriage thing, Zillah will cure her herself."

"The marriage part isn't what concerns me." Raven said it a little tartly. "It's just a useless ceremony-"

"Then we go through with it?"

"Bard," Raven said it slowly. "Do you know what 'consummate' means?"

The cowboy's face fell.

"I reckon I could make a pretty good guess, yeah."

"Whether you know what it means or not, we do _not_ want to do it."

Bard blushed again.

"I reckon I could agree with that…"

"You 'reckon'?" Raven half accused him.

Bard coughed.

"I was trying to put it delicately."

"…"

"…"

"…Oh,"

_**5: 10 **__TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

"Ha! Hi-ya!" Robin was surrounded on all sides by black robed cultists. Each time he blindly swung his metal staff, he was rewarded with a satisfying thump as it made contact. Who and where the blows hit, the Boy Wonder didn't know, all he know was that this was a battle for survival.

With some kind of strange, sixth sense, Robin turned just in time to see a mace arcing crushingly down at him.

"!"

**SCRRRRRRRRRRRIIII! **

The high pitched cry filled the air as Beast Boy, in the form of a green hawk, swooped down and raked at the attacker's face with razor sharp talons. After that particular threat was neutralized, Beast Boy turned into the huge gorilla form he was so fond of and, picking a cultist at random, lifted him up and used him as a club to bat away his accomplices.

Across the sandy field where the battle was taking place, Cyborg was cutting wide swaths through the black dressed army with his blue sonic cannon. The robot had lowered the power setting of the weapon, but it still had enough juice to send a regular human flying through the air.

**CL-CL-CLAMP! **

"Hey!" Cyborg protested. "What are you-Ugh!"

Two cultists had jumped on both of his huge shoulders and a third had leapt upon his back and was wringing his neck from behind with a mace. He tried to step forward, but only to find that two more cultists were clinging desperately to his titanium legs.

**SWOOSH! **

"Hey guys!" Superboy said, suddenly there with a toothy grin and easily holding two cultists by the scruffs of their necks, one in each hand. "Ever wonder what a paper airplane feels like?"

**SW-SWOOSH! **

The Boy of Steel spun and threw the two of them over a hundred yards to land with muted splashes in the ocean.

**ZAF! ZAF! ZAF! **

Starfire hovered high over the army of cultists, tossing down bright green star bolts. She was the only Titan that could fight relatively safely, since the cultists couldn't fly and didn't have any type of projectile weapons. But that didn't last long…

**GRRRRRRURL! **

"Aiiih!" Starfire cried out and clutched her stomach again, just as she had earlier in the main room of the tower. Inexorably, almost as if she were going in slow motion, she fell right into the congregation of black robed warriors.

The slits of Robin's eye masked widened in horror as he watched the scene.

"Beast Boy!" He ordered sharply. "Alley oop!"

Beast Boy, still in the form of the huge, emerald gorilla, understood immediately. He turned towards Robin and laced his hands together. When the Boy Wonder jumped into them, Beast Boy used his huge, awesomely muscled primate arms to fling him up and over his head.

As soon as he was airborne, Robin flipped and started dropping down explosives.

**SW-SW-SW-SWOOSH! **

**B-B-B-BOOM!**

Cultist were thrown in all directions from the explosions as Robin landed near where Starfire had fallen. He swung his staff three hundred and sixty degrees, cutting a path for himself. When he saw Starfire, a cultist was holding her unconscious head up by her red hair and reared his mace back to smash it into her pretty, unsuspecting face.

Robin did the only thing he could do: He retracted and put away his metal staff and flung a razor sharp birdarang.

**SW-SW-SW-SW-SLICE! **

The red projectile arrived at its target halfway thought the cultist's swing. The dangerous, stout end of the club was sliced off and fell harmlessly to the ground.

But the move had cost Robin. Just as the birdarang had left his fingers, a cultist had smashed him in the back of his head with a mace. Black was all the Boy Wonder saw as he toppled forward to the earth.

_**4: 46 **__TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

"There is no way in hell!" Bard almost screeched in protest as a dozen white robed women holding sponges pushed him towards a large, wooden tub filled with steaming water."But Priestess Zillah told us to-" One woman started to say to him.

"I don't give a damn _what_ Zillah said!" Bard exploded. "I'm a grown man, thank you very much, and I can bathe myself! So go take a hike!"

The girls looked unconvinced. That changed quickly, however, when Bard showed them a huge, red fireball.

"And do the same for my sister!" Bard called after them as they fled. He blinked. "Er, my fiancée…er, uh…the girl with the charka stone on her forehead!"

The cowboy muttered sourly to himself as he undressed and lowered himself into the water. As he washed, he looked over at the clothing he was supposed to change into. That didn't make him feel any better.

He hoped Raven was taking this better than he was…

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"If you touch my hair again, I'm going to make you wish your were _never born._" Raven threatened a girl dangerously that was running a brush through her dark, purple hair.

"I am simply following Priestess Zillah's orders." The girl replied calmly.

"…"

"H-hey!" Raven protested. "What are you doing down there?"

"I-I'm putting on your stockings…" Another girl said timidly.

"I am quite capable of putting on my own stockings, thank you."

"S-sorry…"

Raven eyed another white robed girl that was coming towards her with something, a small tool of some kind, in her hand.

"And what are you doing?" She demanded.

"I'm supposed to prepare your eyelashes…"

Raven fumed…but then that particular fact sank into her consciousness.

She was emotionally capable of feeling peevishness…even irritation. But she wasn't peevish or irritated right now. Right now, she was angry. She was angry _and_ in complete control…

It was Bard's pendant, there was no doubt about that. It obviously had some kind of magic enlaced in it. Magic that could restore a paralyzed limb, negate her dark powers and…and allow her to feel emotion. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. But nevertheless, even in the middle of this frustrating situation…

She smiled.

_**4:32 **__TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

In the main room of Titans Tower, the big computer monitor that half covered one wall flickered on.

"Hello, Titans." The black and brown form of Slade almost purred.

Silence.

"…...Titans?"

Silence.

"Children…are too unreliable these days."

And the screen went back to black.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Outside the tower, Superboy swooped down into the cultists, snatched up the unconscious bodies of Robin and Starfire beneath the crook of both of his arms and flew back up to relative safety.

"Cy!" The Boy of Steel called down. "There's too many of them!"

Cyborg threw a cultist over his head, looked up and nodded.

"Right! Titans!" He bellowed. "Back to the tower, ASAP!"

The robot lumbered back to the tower and Superboy flew towards it, still carrying Robin and Starfire. Beast Boy, who had been in the midst of the cultists in the form of a stegosaurus, transformed into a jackrabbit. He hopped in between and around black garbed legs until he joined his teammates at the entrance.

"Everybody in!" Cyborg pushed at them. "Hurry!"

They made it into the tower, but the cultists weren't going to give up so easily. With the security measures down, the front entrance was made mostly of glass…not most impregnable substance in the world.

"All right," Cyborg huffed when they were inside. "I'm gonna try to get the tower's security up and running again. Beast Boy, I need you to take Starfire and Robin to my lab and make sure they're okay."

"What am I supposed to do?" Superboy asked.

"Keep those punks out!"

"How am I supposed to do that?" Superboy wanted to know, but the robot had already lumbered away.

"Good luck, dude." Beast Boy told him before turning into a big, green stallion. Superboy laid Robin and Starfire face down across his back, and the changeling trotted away.

**SHATTER! **

A thrown, stone mace came crashing through the glass of the main door, and black robed cultist clambered toward the small hole.

"Okay, Supes." Superboy said to himself quickly. "Gotta do something quick!"

In a flash, the super powered teen had ripped out one of the interior, concrete walls of the tower and had pressed it up against the glass double doors. _That_ ought to hold them…

**B-BAM! B-B-BAM! **

The cultists were beating and pushing on the new door he had made. And worse yet, the huge, concrete slab was starting to move inward. Superboy pushed back, but he wasn't sure it would be enough. He might have the strength of a hundred men…but how many were pushing against his makeshift door?

As evening fell outside the tower, Superboy knew he was in for a long, long night…


	48. Muddying the Water

"_The Ice Princess is gone now…" - Raven_

_**CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT**_

_**MUDDYING THE WATER**_

_**4: 15 **__TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

"Jinx," Slade beckoned his subordinate to his side.

"Yes, master?" The pink haired witch answered, her voice subdued.

"Go to Titans Tower." He ordered her. "I _must _know what's going on." The villain emphasized that word by bringing his fist down hard on the armrest of his chair, which seemed oddly like a throne.

"Yes, master." Jinx nodded.

"Hurry, then. I believe, in this situation, that time is against us. Take Kitten with you and tell me what you find."

Jinx nodded again and slunk away.

"I can't have you dying yet, Bard." Slade said hollowly to the empty air around him. "Nor can your friends die…Not until I'm ready for them to."

And he fell silent and let the darkness swallow him up.

___** 3: 56 **__TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

"Where's Raven?" Bard asked Zillah when the mystic came to visit him in his cell. Raven was no where to be found.

"She is still being prepared for the ceremony." Zillah answered him calmly. "It always takes women longer to make themselves presentable, and she doesn't have as much to work with as you, Bard."

The cowboy chose not to comment on that. Instead…

"You call _this_ looking good?" He plucked the front of his robe. The white robed, female servants had combed his wet hair back and tied it into a pony tail at the nape of his neck. They had taken his hat and boots, a fact the cowboy had _not_ enjoyed. He wore a long, dark red robe that fell to just past his knees and black tights ending with red, leather slippers on his feet. Clasped to his shoulders by small, silver chains was an ridiculously long, black as night cape that swept along the floor five feet behind him whenever he moved. It made him look peculiarly like a vampire.

"All cultures are different…" Zillah admitted mildly. "I preferred your original clothes myself…mostly because they show off your body instead of hiding it in the folds of a robe."

The gussied up cowboy decided not to comment on that either.

"My cold is gone." He tried to change the subject. "Did you do that?"

"In a way," Zillah answered him. "By teleporting something, you break up the small, invisible pieces that make up its mass, send it at supersonic speeds to the destination and then put it back together again. Much in the same way the picture appears on your televisions. I suppose that when I was taking you apart-"

Bard winced slightly at her choice of wording.

"That the disease you were ill with simply couldn't follow."

"Interesting," Bard said. "Maybe you ought to quit being a priestess and become a science teacher."

"Tempting, especially with the fact that _you_ could use one."

Bard wasn't sure whether he should be embarrassed or angry at that. Maybe both…

"But I am quite happy with where I am." She finished.

"How do you really feel about me?" Bard asked her suddenly. "I knew two different versions of you. I knew a humble, kindhearted girl who had an innocent crush on me, and then I knew an evil, conniving hussy who looks at me like a slab of meat. Which one do you want to be?"

Zillah looked at him with thoughtful eyes…and then she laughed.

"So that's it," she said as much to herself as to him. "You still see me as that spineless, servile girl you first met, and it still shocks you every single time I say or do something uncharacteristic of her. You're clinging to a dream, Bard."

"You didn't answer my question." Bard said firmly. "I didn't ask _which_ you were, I asked which one do you _want _to be. You haven't done anything totally irrevocable yet, and Brother Blood can't have anything on you…"

"I see now." Zillah said. "You think that the emotions I showed while I was manipulating you had some validity. Hmph," she scoffed. "I was nice and dressed as Raven to become your surrogate sister. And I showed attraction to you so that being with a woman similar to your sister wouldn't be new to you when the time came for you and Raven to be joined. That part, unfortunately, didn't work out. That could have been quite interesting…"

"That's the biggest pile of B.S I've ever heard." Bard rebuked her. "I saw the look in your eyes when you were being the 'good' Zillah. There was a happiness and a kind of peace surrounding you. I…I saw the look in your eyes when I cried in your arms. You're not that good an actor and you know it."

Zillah gasped as if the cowboy had actually struck her, but then she drew herself up in an posture and an expression of almost imperial superiority.

"You're clinging to a dream, Bard." Zillah told him in a tone laced with steel, motioning to the guard. "Now, I need to check on your fiancée's preparations. If you'll excuse me…"

"You said that once already, Zillah! Don't you want to talk anymore?" Bard called after her as the guard opened the door for her. "What's the matter? Did I hit a nerve? Huh?"

But his only answer was the iron clang of the guard closing and locking the cell door behind her.

___** 3: 45 **__TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

"Okay," Beast Boy said to himself as he stood between the two medical beds where he had lain his two unconscious teammates. "Now what am I supposed to do?"

Robin and Starfire ignored him.

"Oh, right!" The little green changeling continued his personal diatribe. "I'm supposed to make sure you guys are okay!" He ran his eyes over Robin, looking for injuries. "Aha!" He exclaimed in triumph when he found the big lump on the back of the Boy Wonder's head.

"Now…" Beast Boy pondered. "How am I supposed to…Oh, yeah! Ice!"

He zipped out of the room and, when he came back, he was carrying ice cubes wrapped up in a towel. He went over and put it under Robin's head like a pillow.

"Hehehehe, you are _soooo_ good, Beast Boy." Then he looked over at Starfire. He didn't noticed any external injuries when he gave her a once over…but he _did _notice that her purple miniskirt had ridden up just a bit higher than where she normally wore it. Blushing furiously, the changeling quickly pulled them back down to where they belonged.

"Ahem…" He sweat dropped. "Now…what's wrong with _you_?" He looked her over again, but still he couldn't even find a single bruise. Hesitantly, he put his small green hand on her forehead…

"Brrrr!" Beast Boy shuddered and drew him hand back. "What were you doing, Starfire? Fighting a polar bear?" Her skin was ice cold, but the changeling knew how to fix that. He ran out of the room again and, when he came back, he was carrying a thick, quilted blanket.

"Heh, I wonder if I'll get a promotion for this?" He asked no one in particular as he covered Starfire up. "Well, now that that's done…" He leapt off in the form of a jackrabbit, heading downstairs to help out Superboy.

_**3: 32**__ TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

"Arrrrrrr…!"

All the muscles in Superboy's body were being pushed to the limit as he strained to hold the concrete barrier in place…even as uncountable cultists strained just as much to do the opposite. His feet were slowly sliding back, inexorably giving more and more ground up to the invaders..

Sweat beaded down his face, burning his eyes.

"You are not…getting in here…goons!" The Boy of Steel uttered as he redoubled his effort. His eyes continued to burn…

**ZZZRRRRZZZ!**

Two small holes appeared in the concrete before his eyes.

"What the-?" As he realized what he had just done, Superboy looked up at where his concrete barrier ran up against a steel girdle and used his heat vision again.

**ZZZRRRRZZ!**

When he finished, the melted steel had hardened alongside the edges of the concrete wall, keeping it firmly in place. Superboy grinned conceitedly from ear to ear.

"Superboy!"

The Boy of Steel turned towards the voice and-

**ZZZRRRZZZ!**

"Ack!" Beast Boy cried out and ducked as the red beams coming from Superboy's eyes passed just over his head and scorched the wall behind him. "What are you doing? Trying to make barbequed Beast Boy?" The changeling paused. "Since when did _you_ shoot lasers from your eyes, anyway? I thought that was Starfire's department!"

"Since now," Superboy replied. "It's brand new, so I might have a little trouble keeping it under control."

Beast Boy blinked.

"Don't be checkin' me out, then."

Superboy glared at him.

"Er…" Beast Boy cringed and sweat dropped.

"I fixed it where the cultists can't get in." Superboy said, letting the little green elf off the hook. "For a while, anyway. What do we do now?"

"I dunno," Beast Boy shrugged. "We could always go see how Cy is doing with the security system." He suggested.

"All right," Superboy agreed, grinning. "Race ya!"

"Wha-?"

**SWOOSH!**

"Hey! You've got super speed! No fair, dude!" Beast Boy protested shrilly before turning into a cheetah and loping off after him.

_**3:09**__ TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

"Whoa!"

Both Jinx and Kitten pulled up there circular hovercrafts to stare down at the army of black robed cultists attacking Titans Tower.

"Looks like someone's declared war on the Titans." Jinx commented to the blonde floating at her side. She blinked her pink eyes. "Besides us, o-of course."

"Who are they?" Kitten wanted to know.

"I don't know," Jinx admitted before popping open a communicator.

"Yes, child?" Slade's shadowed face answered her.

"We've arrived at Titans Tower."

"And…?"

"And there's an army attacking it."

"What?" Slade's voice sounded alarmed.

"There's an army attacking Titans Tower, master. They're wearing all black and using clubs. Who are they?"

But Slade didn't answer. He looked off to the side as if lost in thought.

"Uh…master?"

"Obtain one." Slade ordered her before flicking off the device.

The masked villain stood up from his chair and clasped his gloved hands behind his back. Someone had amassed an army in _his_ city and, even more troubling than that, they had done it without him being aware of it. How was that possible? He had an iron grip on the youth of the city, so where had this army come from? He _had_ to get answers.

And he would, even if he had to annihilate this phantom army himself to do it

___** 3:00**__ TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

"I hate you," Raven said scathingly as soon as Zillah walked into the small antechamber where the servant girls were seeing to her appearance.

Zillah stopped in mid-stride.

"…Nice to see you again as well, Raven."

"I hate you," Raven repeated flatly, ignoring the girl's reply. "I hate you for poisoning Starfire, I hate you for attacking my friends and I hate you for what you're trying to force me to do. But do you know why I hate you the most?"

"….." Zillah said nothing, surprised at the ferocity of her verbal lashing.

"I hate you the most for what you did to Bard." The dark sorceress answered her own question. "For all that you've done, you don't deserve to live on this earth. And if not for your blackmail, I'd correct that injustice right now."

Zillah looked startled, but then she regained her composure somewhat.

"I thought you were supposed to be the Ice Princess," Zillah half accused her. "The girl who can't feel emotions."

Raven stood up.

"The Ice Princess is gone now…"

Zillah took a quick, cautious step backwards.

"Don't do anything foolish, Raven." She warned a little desperately. "If you don't do as we say, your friends will die…as well as Bard."

"I'm not going to hurt you…yet." Raven answered her, sitting back down. "I just wanted to see the _fear_ in your eyes."

Zillah opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came out. Finally, she turned around and briskly walked away. Raven, on the other hand, was smiling coldly with satisfaction.

That had been fun…

Zillah's thoughts churned inside her head as she walked away. Both Raven _and_ Bard had gotten underneath her skin. There was certainly nod doubt in her mind now that they were brother and sister. And she wasn't sure which visit had been worse…

___** 2:48**__ TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

"_Thank you for consenting to visit me." Slade purred ominously to the black robed cultist he had strapped to a bolted down chair. "I hope the trip was bearable."_

"…"

"Now that the pleasantries are over, let us get to down to business." Slade continued. "Who is you leader?"

"….."

"Where did you and the rest of that army come from?"

"….."

"You're going to be difficult, I see. I wanted some entertainment this evening, anyway." Slade held up a glistening dagger and admired it's jagged, razor sharp edges. "Tell me, friend." He said it almost pleasantly. "Do you happen to know what 'castration' is?"

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"_**!"**_

Outside the door where Slade's two apprentices waited, Jinx winced.

"What's the matter?" Kitten asked her. "Feeling squeamish?"

"No," The hex witch answered, bringing a dainty hand to her forehead. "He just screams like a boy. He'll end up giving me a headache, Fate forbid."

"_**!"**_

Jinx winced again.

"Okay! Okay! Okay! I'll tell you anything you want to know!" The cultist shrieked in submission from the other side of the door.

"Hmm," Kitten mused. "He's tougher than the others. The master actually had to cut off _both_ of them…"

_**2:40**__ TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

"Stupid computer!" Cyborg raged as he bashed at the keyboard with his titanium fingers.

**SWOOSH!**

Cyborg gave Superboy a double take.

"What are you doin' up here?" He demanded. "You're supposed to be keeping the cultists out!"

"I took care of it." Superboy told him. "I set up a barrier that'll hold'em…for a while, anyway. Any luck with the security…thing?"

"No," the robot said in frustration. "That Zillah girl totally trashed all the surveillance and security programs. It'll take hours to decode them and get them working again."

"But we don't have hours, man." Superboy pointed out.

"Don't you think I know that?" Cyborg snapped, but then he caught himself. "Sorry, dawg. The stress is getting to me…"

"No prob, man." Superboy let it slide. "Hey! I got an idea!"

"Let's hear it, then."

"Why don't we just do what any regular joe would do if an army showed up in his front yard?"

Cyborg looked at him blankly.

"Let's call the cops!"

"The police can't handle all of those guys down there, Superboy." Cyborg disagreed. "They're out manned."

"So?" Superboy shrugged. "At least it'll give those goons out there something to think about besides trying to get in here."

"You've got a point…" Cyborg conceded. "All right, let's go call the Commissioner." The two superheroes walked off.

As soon as they were gone, a streaking green cheetah skidded into the room and transformed into Beast Boy.

"Okay! What did I…miss?" He finished when he was talking to nothing but empty air. "Cy? SB?"

Absolute silence…

"Pshh…this always happens to me."

_**2:25**__ TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

"Brother Blood?" Zillah addressed him diffidently from behind. The leader of Neo Zandia had been busy barking out orders to the servants who were cooking and decorating the gloomy cavern where the festivities and the wedding would be taking place later.

"What is it, Zillah?" He asked over his shoulder, obviously preoccupied.

"There's someone here to see you."

"Is it important?" Brother Blood snapped. "I still have a lot to do before the wedding."

"I think it is, yes." Zillah told him. "He's waiting in your study."

"Who is it?"

Zillah answered him.

"Really now?" A slow, evilly satisfied smile came over Brother Blood's face. "How interesting…"

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Brother Blood was still smiling as he walked into his study.

"I must be moving up in the world if the mighty and feared Slade had come to pay me a visit." He said smugly.

Slade sat at a desk and looked up from scroll he had been reading.

"Interesting reading you have here, Brother Blood." He said in greeting. "The personal journal of the very first Brother Blood. Enlightening."

"I'm sure you didn't come here to discuss my reading habits." Brother Blood said bluntly. "And as much as I'd like to get to know you, I have things to attend to. What do you want?"

"I hear you worship Trigon here." Slade commented.

"We do," Brother Blood answered. "Why would that matter to you?"

"How long has he been speaking to you?" Slade asked, ignoring his question.

"Speak? Trigon is a god. He doesn't lower himself by speaking to mere mortals."

"Pity…very well," Slade said, standing up. "On to more worldly matters, then. You have an army attacking Titans Tower, correct?"

Brother Blood nodded.

"And you also have Bard and Raven in your custody as well?"

"That's right."

"I'm here to tell you to call off your attack on the Titans and hand Raven and Bard over to me." Slade told him without any preamble. "You're scheme is interrupting my plans."

Brother Blood's eyes went flat.

"You're giving me orders in my own _city?_" He demanded.

"A word of advice, child: Do not thwart me." Slade threatened as he stood up. "You have no idea of the kind of power I obtain."

"I am not a child! And _you_ have no idea what kind of power _I_ have." Brother Blood shot back heatedly. "Now get out of my city before I have you killed…or before I do it myself."

Slade stared menacingly at the vampire with his one visible eye for a moment, but then he nodded slightly and moved around him to walk out. He stopped at the door, but didn't turn around.

"Is this the part where you say 'you're going to regret this'?" Brother Blood sneered. "Or maybe, 'this isn't over'?"

"Hmm," Slade's voice sounded amused. "Perhaps both."

And then the black and brown garbed villain walked away.


	49. Running Out of Time

_You, Starfire really, doesn't really have all that much time left. I have every confidence you can do it on short notice, but your wife might be a little disappointed." - Zillah_

_**CHAPTER FORTY NINE**_

_**RUNNING OUT OF TIME**_

_**2:00 **__TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

"Ugh…" Robin groaned as he slowly swam back up into consciousness. He sat up slowly and gingerly touched the tender lump on the back of his head. Then he looked to his right…"Star?" He was up to his feet in the span of a heartbeat, ignoring the shooting pain through his neck and the back of his head. He gently laid aside the quilt covering her and scanned her for any external injuries. But he couldn't find a single one…What was wrong with her?

He automatically looked over at the medical equipment on the small bedside table, but then he realized she wasn't hooked up to it. The Boy Wonder quickly amended that, however, and then he stared in consternation at the black and green readout that measured the Tamaranean's vital signs.

_**BEEP...BEEP...BEEP...BEEP...BEEP **_

Her pulse and heartbeat were slightly slower than the average human vital signs. But she was an alien…Who knew if this was normal or not? Robin pulled off his glove and put his hand on Starfire's forehead. Her skin was like ice. He knew, at least, that _that_ wasn't normal.

But as the Boy Wonder walked out of the room, he knew he was going into unexplored territory.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"Can't you damn kids _ever_ stay outta trouble?" Commissioner Walker's voice demanded over the speaker. "_You_ step in it, and now _I_ have to come and clean the shit up?"

"Hey!" Superboy protested. "Isn't usually _us _who are always saving _your_ butt?"

"No wonder you ain't the leader." The Commissioner shot back. "You don't have an ounce of diplomacy _or_ respect in ya!"

"And you do?"

"Pssh! Sure I do!" Walker paused. "When I'm talking to my superiors, anyway. I can be hard ass with you kids. What's the fun of over ranking somebody if you can't have any fun with'em?"

"Dude, did he just say he over ranks us?" Beast Boy asked. "Cause if he did-"

Cyborg elbowed him in the side.

"Can you help us?" He asked.

"…Yeah, yeah. All right." Commissioner Walker gave in. "I'll send some men over there to help out. Just remember you owe me your ass, all right?"

"Dude, did he just say-" Cyborg elbowed the changeling again.

"Er, right, Commissioner." He said. "T-thanks."

"Walker's not going to be able to handle this on his own."

"Robin!" Beast Boy exclaimed when he saw him. "You're awake!"

Robin squinted painfully behind his eye mask and brought a gloved hand to his head.

"Not so loud, Beast Boy." He said plaintively.

"Heh, sorry…"

Robin nodded at the changeling and turned to Cyborg.

"What's the situation?" He asked.

"Well, after you and Starfire were…uh," Cyborg searched for a delicate word…

"Defeated?" Robin supplied.

"I, uh, guess that's a word you could use." The robot cleared his throat. "Anyway, after that, Superboy scooped you two up and we retreated to the Tower. SB's put up a barrier so the cultist can't get in, but we don't know how long it will last-"

"An hour, maybe." Superboy estimated helpfully. "Two at the most. There are a _lot_ of goons out there."

"And then we called Commissioner Walker." Cyborg finished up. "We know he can't save our butts, but he _might_ buy us a little time."

"How long until you can get the security measures back up?" Robin wanted to know.

"Phew, I don't know, man." Cyborg rubbed the human part of his head. "Zillah trashed all the program files. It'll take a while."

"You'd better get started then." Robin suggested. "The tower's security _has_ to be back up before that army down there can get over Superboy's barrier. If not, we're gonna be waist deep in Brother Blood's cultists."

"On it," Cyborg told him. He hopped into the chair before the computer and got right to work, his titanium fingers blurring across the keyboard.

"Superboy," Robin turned to him.

"S'up?"

"I need you and Beast Boy to look for Raven and Bard."

"Dude, how are we supposed to do that?"

"Starfire told me about the first trip she and Bard made there." Robin said to him. "There are caves underneath the mountains to the west. You'll have to search for an entrance there."

"_This_ is gonna be fun…" Superboy half moaned.

"But, dude!" Beast Boy protested. "Don't you need us here? If Cy can't get the tower working again-"

"We'll be swarmed under." Robin finished grimly. "And two more heroes won't matter."

"What are _you_ gonna be doing during all this?" Superboy asked him.

"…I have to find out what's wrong with Starfire."_**1:49 **__TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

Bard paced to the left in cell. Then to the right. Then he sat down on the cot. He stood back up. He sat back down. He hummed a George Strait song. Then a tune by Hank Williams. He drummed the beat to a Nelly song against the top of his thighs

.…A Nelly song?

_God, I need a cigarette…_

"What's the matter, Bard? Is the groom having pre-wedding jitters?"

Bard sighed in exasperation as the guard let Zillah into his cell.

"Stop trying to be clever." He said to her bluntly. "I'm not in the mood for it."

Zillah looked at him a little closer.

"But you _are_ in the mood for a cigarette, right?"

"…Perceptive." He threw the word she was so fond of back into her teeth.

"Your cigarettes and lighter were in your coat, correct?" Zillah asked coolly, ignoring that. "I suppose I _could_ teleport them to you."

Bard looked at her warily behind his blackened glasses.

"What's the catch?"

"No catch." Zillah replied innocently. "I do not mind going through a bit of inconvenience if it means you will be ready for your duties sooner. You, Starfire really, doesn't really have all that much time left. I have every confidence you can do it on short notice, but your wife might be a little disappointed."

Bard's face blanched at the implications of that offhand comment.

"You know what?" He said sickly. "I suddenly don't want a cigarette anymore."

"As you wish…" She stood up as if to leave.

"O-on second thought…I want a cigarette, and then I want _you_ to leave."

**ZZZZZHT! **

"I can't do that, God-Father Bard." Zillah told him even as she teleported his cigarettes and lighter to the cot next to him. "Since your parent's weren't exactly invited to the wedding, as if that would have mattered anyway, I will have to give you away myself."

Bard quickly lit a cigarette before Zillah could change her mind.

"God-Father?" He asked around the cancer stick, ignoring her verbal jab. "What happened to 'holy'?"

"'Holy'?" Zillah repeated. "Do you truly consider yourself as such?"

"…" The dressed up cowboy exhaled smoke and looked away.

"As I thought," the mystic murmured. "Besides, 'God-Father' is much more accurate. Raven guessed that your purpose is to father a monster. That may be true to her, but not to the Church of Blood. You are to father our new God."

"You've already got a god." Bard pointed out. "Isn't Trigon enough for you?"

"But Trigon isn't here…"

Bard's eyes widened behind his glasses.

"So _that's_ what you've been aiming for all this time." He voiced his revelation. "You want to worship Trigon, but he's stuck in Hell at the moment. If Raven or me ever gave in to him, he would take over our bodies to come to earth. But instead of waiting for that, you'd rather have a child of your own that you can _force_ to release him…"

Zillah smiled toothlessly at him.

"Your perception knows no bounds…God-Father."

Bard tried to ignore that.

"How's Raven?" He asked suddenly after taking in a long drag off his cigarette.

"….."

"Uh, you _did_ go to make sure she was getting ready, right?"

"She's…spirited."

Bard's eyebrow raised.

"That's not the word most people use when describing my sister." He prodded her.

"Fiancée," Zillah corrected him absently, but her eyes seemed lost in thought. "There's something different about her now, but I can't quite sense what it is…"

"What is it?" Bard asked quickly, his face full of concern.

Unfortunately, Zillah saw it.

"Perhaps married life agrees with her…who knows?" She paused. "Now, smoke as many of those as you want now, because you can't smoke while walking down the aisle…I hope Raven doesn't mind the taste of nicotine."

Bard did _not_ want to think about that…

_**1:25 **__TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

Robin finished scanning Starfire with the long, flat, device that looked quite a bit like an metal detector. He turned to a small monitor and hit a few keys on the keyboard.

**ZRRRRRR! **

The Boy Wonder snatched up the printout and stared at it intensely. There was an outline of Starfire's body on the paper, and blues, oranges and reds showing her heat signatures. Her whole body was blue/orange…except for her stomach. It was dark red. Robin looked down at his best friend's bare midriff unconsciously in consternation as he thought about.

Hadn't it been her stomach that had caused her to collapse the first time in the main room? She and Beast Boy had tried to pass it off as indigestion, (Or as Star had called it: 'End of the gestion'), but he had been skeptical…with good reason, as it turned out.

Now he was absolutely certain that, whatever was wrong with Starfire, it was centered in her stomach. He'd have to run some more tests…

_**1:17 **__TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

"All right," Beast Boy said after he and Superboy had landed in the mountainous region to the west of the city. "How are we supposed to find these caves?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Superboy ran a hand through his black hair as he looked around. "What do we have to go on?"

"What did Robin say Starfire told him?" Beast Boy asked himself. "Oh, yeah! She said the entrance was in a cliff face and that it was hidden by a hologram!"

"_That's_ helpful," Superboy muttered sourly. "Anything else?"

"Just that she flew into it."

"All right," Superboy looked up at the night sky again. "So, here's what we know: The entrance is hidden in a cliff face and it's high up. And it's hidden by a hologram, right?"

"Right," Beast Boy agreed. "But we could search for _weeks_ out here and _still_ not find it."

"But we have one more thing to go on." Superboy went on. "The entrance has to marked by _something_ or Brother Blood himself wouldn't be able to find it. So we're looking for the entrance in a cliff face high up…with something that makes it different than the rest of the cliff. A different color, or maybe a crack or something."

Superboy turned to his teammate and saw that the little green changeling was looking at him funny.

"What?"

"Dude, that sounded a lot like…logic."

"So, what?" The Boy of Steel blustered. "Pssh! I use logic!"

"Heh, more than I can say." Beast Boy looked up. "So, we going or not?"

"Just don't break your beak against the cliff, little man."

"I'm gonna turn into a bat…"

"…Whatever,"

Superboy flew up into the air, and Beast Boy changed into a emerald bat before swooping off after him.

_**1:03 **__TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

Bard felt sick to his stomach and his legs were weak as Zillah led him at a stately pace down the aisle between the rows and rows of long pews filled with pseudo-guests in black robes. The long black cape he was forced to wear slid across the carpeted cavern floor behind him like the train of a wedding dress. The cowboy imagined that most genuine grooms felt much the same way as he did now…but probably for different reasons. A choir of low, deep voices sang somewhere out of sight…but the tone and cadence was totally different from the exultant song he and Starfire had heard the first time they were here…Before Sebastion had killed his father.

Bard's eyes lit up slightly as he reached the pulpit at the head of the garishly decorated hall. On a small table before him sat he and Raven's possessions. Everything from he and Raven's previous clothes, his retractable bo staff and, most appealing to him, his laser pistol.

"Don't even think about it." Zillah whispered into his ear, their arms still locked. "Your possessions are there to show what you are giving up…and what you're embracing."

Bard decided not to reply.

The hidden choir lowered in volume until they emitted a barely audible buzz, and Bard knew that Raven was about to make her appearance. Brother Blood started down the aisle first. Then, after a few slow paces, he turned and offered his arm to the as of yet unseen Raven.

When the dark sorceress finally made her appearance, Bard found that he'd been holding his breath. His sister was…darkly beautiful.

Her hair was normally fairly flat because of her cloak's hood, but now it was lively and intricate curls fell and spilled down to adorn her right shoulder. Her eyelashes were curled gracefully and she wore a deep, dark purple dress that ended just above her knees. Dark stocking adorned her bare legs and his gold cross pendant was still around her waist, but it looked strangely out of place for some reason. But what Bard noticed the most was Raven's eyes. They weren't cold or distant or even indifferent. There was…a spark there; a spark he had never seen in them before.

Then Raven turned those glorious eyes towards him, and took in his outfit in a single glance.

And she giggled.

Bard did a double take.

'_Raven giggled?'_

Once she and Brother Blood reached their ordained spot, the leader of the Church of Blood led Raven to stand beside Bard and Zillah and went to stand on the other side of pulpit.

"You seem to be in a good mood." Bard commented blandly in a whisper to his sister. "All things considering…"

"Sorry," Raven apologized, even as she reached out to give a soft pat to the cloth over his chest. "But that suit makes you look ridiculous."

Her willing, almost affectionate touch surprised him so much that he was already talking before the alarm bells went off in his head.

"I know. Guess I'm not as lucky as you are. That dress suits you, you know. You look beautiful."

Raven actually blushed and lowered her eyes modestly.

"…" Bard stared.

"Welcome faithful followers!" Brother Blood boomed at the 'guests'. "The day we have long awaited for has arrived. Tonight, the two destined ones will be joined! And from their passion shall we receive the physical manifestation of our God!"

Bard winced at that.

"Trigon will once again walk the earth!" Brother Blood continued his rant. "And with him to lead us, the world shall tremble at our coming!"

The crowd cheered, but Bard felt as if he were going to be sick. Brother Blood went on with his tirade, but the cowboy tuned him out. Instead, he looked up and started to pray-

He had to blink several times to realize exactly what he was seeing. In the darkness that gathered above the cavern, he saw the faint glow of two pink eyes…

_**0:52 **__TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

**BEEP!...BEEP!...BEEP! **

Robin wrung his gloved hands together as he sat beside Starfire's bed with that infernal beeping filling his ears. The beeping that represented his best friend's pulse and heartbeat. The beeping that was coming slower and slower…

Robin felt completely helpless…a feeling he _definitely _didn't like. He'd put Starfire through every test and scan he could think of, but he couldn't come up with any new information. He knew that the problem was centered around her stomach, but that was all he knew.

"Star…" He finally half whispered after checking the door to make sure they were alone. "You…Y-You're my best friend. My whole life…ever since I could remember…was filled with loneliness, sorrow and darkness. But you changed that. You became a light I could cling to…" He sighed. "Why am I even saying this? You can't even hear me, can you?"

"…" Starfire couldn't answer.

"…That's what I thought." Robin hung his head.

**BEEP!...BEEP!...BEEP!**

_**0:33 **__TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

"Dude! Superboy!" Beast Boy called up and waved his skinny green arms to grab Superboy's attention. "I found it!"

**SWOOSH! **

"That didn't take long." The Boy of Steel observed. "How'd you find it?"

"I forgot how useful a bat can be." The changeling replied. "The hologram is designed to trick eyes…not ears."

Superboy stared at him blankly.

"Dude! Don't you know how bat's see?"

"I thought bats were blind…"

"SB," Beast Boy told him. "You have _got_ to watch the Discovery Channel sometime!"

"…"

"Okay, let me give you a crash course: Bat's don't see. Instead, they send out sound waves. When the sound waves echo back, they see a picture of what ahead of them."

"That still doesn't explain how you found the entrance so quick."

"Sure it does!" Beast Boy said. "Holograms don't have any substance, so a bat can't even see them."

Superboy was looking at him funny.

"What?"

"Man, that almost sounded…intelligent."

"So what, dude?" Beast Boy demanded highly. "Pssh! I'm intelligent."

"You do a good job of hiding it, then." Superboy grinned.

"Yeah, I've always been good at-" The changeling's eyes widened. "Hey! You wanna know where the entrance is or what?"

"All right," Superboy suppressed his laugh. "Where is it?"

"Right up there," Beast Boy pointed. "Where that branch it sticking out."

"You go first." Superboy told him. "If you wrong, I want to watch you break your beak."

"Didn't I already tell you that bat's don't have beaks?"

"Whatever, just go on up there!"

Beast Boy melted into the form of a bat and flew up to the cliff face…and disappeared into the branch sticking out of it. Satisfied, Superboy swooped up after him.

"….."

"…."

"It is _really _dark in here." Superboy's voice came out of the smothering blackness around them. "Can you see anything?"

"Nope, but I'm sure a bat can." A moment later, a shrill shriek filled the air. "All right," Beast Boy said then. "As far as I can tell, it's a straight shot. But it goes really far back."

"Let's go then."

"You've got super speed, remember?" Beast Boy reminded him. "I'd just hold you back.

"You want me to use super speed in the _dark?_" Superboy asked incredulously. "I could run into a wall and-"

"Break your beak?" The changeling grinned.

Superboy muttered under his breath about that…and missed Bard, for some strange reason.

"You sure the passage goes straight?" He asked.

"Yup!"

"If I break my beak, I'm coming back for you." The Boy of Steel threatened.

"Er…" Beast Boy sweat dropped.

**SWOOSH!**

When Superboy was gone, Beast Boy changed into a bat again and trailed along behind._**0:15 **__TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

Everyone's favorite cowboy was still tuning out Brother Blood's longwinded diatribe. As casually as he could, Bard nudged Raven's arm. He didn't glance at her when she looked over at him, but, instead, he raised his eyebrow twice. Raven looked confused, but then she slowly, imperceptibly glance that exact moment, Zillah nudged him and he looked over at her.

"This is the part where you say 'I do'!" She hissed at him in a whisper.

"Oh!" Bard gulped. "I, uh, well…"

"Stop trying to stall for time." Zillah hissed at him again. "Starfire only has a few more minutes to live."

Bard swallowed again.

"I…do," he said hollowly.

Brother Blood turned to Raven and asked her as well.

"I do," she said hesitantly.

"Then by the power vested in me by Trigon and the Church of Blood, I pronounce you man and wife." Brother Blood smirked at them. "You may kiss your bride, Bard."

Bard and Raven stared helplessly at each other…

_**0:00 **__TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

_**BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP…..**_


	50. Collapse

"_Well, whatever you do, Raven; whatever decision you make, I'll be with you all the way." - Bard_

_**CHAPTER FIFTY**_

_**COLLAPSE**_

_**0:00 **__TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

"C'mon, ya pansies! Go, go go go go!" Commissioner Walker bellowed at his men from the small trailer he was using as a base of operations. "Get your damn asses in gear!" A man carrying an barricade caught the Commissioner's eye. "What the hell are you doin'?" He demanded.

"We're setting up a barricade around their perimeter, sir." The officer said respectfully.

"What in the hell for?"

"Uh…so they won't be able get away, s-sir."

"Dumb ass!" Walker spat. "We _want_ them to get away, ya idiot! That's the whole idea!"

The officer stared, confused.

"Do you think we can arrest _all_ those bastards out there?"

"…"

"Do you think we even have enough _handcuffs _for all of'em?"

"…Then why are we here, sir?"

"We're going to make those bastards tuck their tails between their legs and run home!" The Commissioner explained, his face red. "Christ! Why must I be surrounded by stupid dumbshits with nothing but shit for brains?"

A pause…

"Heh, I said 'shit' twice in one sentence."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"What the hell are you staring at? Go…shoot some tear gas at them or something! Look busy!"

TTTTTTTTTTT

Meanwhile, in the main of Titans Tower, Cyborg still sat at the computer, typing mightily as text and graphics whizzed by on the monitor in a blur. He had to get the security back online before the cultist could get in! Superboy had set up some kind of barrier to keep them out, but he had said that it could only hold them for, at the most, two hours. And by the robot's calculations…two hours had just passed.

"Then by the power vested in me by Trigon and the name of the Church of Blood, I pronounce you man and wife." Brother Blood smirked smugly at them. "You may kiss your bride, Bard."

Bard and Raven stared helplessly at each other…

"What do we do now?" Bard whispered between the clenched teeth of his fake smile.

"I don't know…"

"…."

"…."

**ZAP! **

"Augh!" Brother Blood went flying with a surprised yell over his pulpit and between the two siblings to sprawl out in the center of the aisle.

Wide eyed, Bard turned and saw…

"Kitten?" He said in disbelief. But then his lips turned up into a broad, genuine grin. "I could kiss you right now!" He declared impulsively.

The blonde stared at him with her huge laser rifle leaning across one of her shoulders.

"…"

"…"

"….."

"…Uh, well then again…I reckon not." Bard sweat dropped.

Brother Blood had made it back to his feet.

"I refuse to let a girl with a _children's_ _toy_ ruin destiny!" He shrieked with fanatical zeal. He started walking towards her…

**WHAM!**

Slade descended from absolutely nowhere and plowed a metal boot into Brother Blood's chest. The vampire was thrown back down to the carpeted aisle.

"You should have followed my advice, _child_." Slade told him from behind his mask. "Those that thwart me do not do so again."

During all the turmoil, Zillah had been watching in shocked chagrin as she and Brother Blood's carefully prepared plans fell around her ears. But then, inexorably, her eyes fell upon the laser pistol on the altar before them. She reached for it…but Bard was one step ahead of her. Just as her hand hit the place where the laser pistol had just been, she felt the cold metal of its barrel against her forehead.

"You should ask permission before you take something that's not yours." The cowboy said smugly. But then his face went hard. "If you're gonna teleport…you better do it faster than I can pull this trigger."

"…" Zillah said nothing, but she didn't move.

"That's what I thought." Bard smiled coldly. He wondered how _she_ liked being manipulated… "Now, you're going to do what I tell you to do, right?"

"…Right," Zillah said it so reluctantly that she almost seemed to chew on the word.

"Good. It's nice to see we understand each other." Bard was milking it for all he was worth. Revenge wasn't a very honorable action, but it _could_ sometimes be sweet. "All right, first off, take my pendant off Raven's waist."

Zillah glared daggers at him, but a moment later-

**ZZZZZZHT!**

-the gold cross pendant had disappeared from Raven's waist and, was instead, now around her slender neck. Bard was slightly surprised when his sister didn't immediately take it off, but he was too busy at the moment to pursue the matter.

"Now, stop your attack and teleport Starfire here."

"The ten hours have expired…Holy Bard." Zillah told him. Her tone was almost…sad?

Bard gasped, but then his blue eyes hardened beneath his dark glasses.

"Do it, anyway!" He snapped at her, his voice harsh. "_Now!_"

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

**ZZZZZZZZHT!**

Commissioner Walker stared, dumbfounded, at the empty field that had just a moment ago been filled with black robed cultists.

"Holy shit," he breathed. Then he noticed his officers staring up at him. "Ahem…m-mission accomplished, men!"

"…..."

"Didn't you hear me? Get the hell outta here!"

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

**BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP…**

"_**STARFIRE!"**_ Robin yelled out emotionally, scrambling to his feet and-

**ZZZZZZZZHT!**

And his best friend was gone…

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

**ZZZZZZZZHT!**

Starfire appeared lying before Brother Blood's pulpit. Immediately forgetting Zillah, both Bard and Raven rushed over and knelt beside their friend.

"Zillah was right." Raven said, bringing her dainty hand back from Starfire's neck. Her voice was choked with emotion. "She's…dead." Her eyes widened. "Shock her!" She ordered.

Bard blinked back the sudden tears he hadn't even realized had come into his eyes.

"What?"

"You did it once before, remember?" Raven was talking fast. "You shocked my heart into beating. Do it to her!"

"But I didn't-"

"I don't care!" Bard was taken aback the emotion showing on his sister's face. "Whatever you did to me, do it to her!"

Bard stared down at the unmoving body of their friend. He couldn't… He was absolutely sure that the only reason God had allowed him to bring back Raven that night on the bank of the river was to let him learn that she didn't believe in him.

So he did it the other way.

**ZZZZRRRRHT!**

Starfire's body jumped and convulsed from the bolt of electricity he had sent into her body.

"…"

Nothing.

"Again!" Raven told him.

He hummed…

**ZZZZRRRRHT!**

Starfire's body jumped again.

Nothing…

**ZZZZZRRRRHT!**

Her body jumped again and was still.

"…"

"…"

Cold realization began to icily sink into Bard's heart, and it was like a fist clenching around it.

"…"

"…"

Starfire coughed and her emerald eyes slowly blinked open.

"F-friends…?"

Bard looked down thankfully into Starfire's alive face. But for some reason, something made him look up and across her body at Raven. His sister was smiling…

And in the darkness of those caves, the joy on her face was like the sun coming up.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Meanwhile, Brother Blood and Slade had been fighting down the aisle. Brother Blood was pressing the attack, and Slade kept backing up at he blocked his blows. But the black and brown garbed villain's body spoke of cool, almost indifferent confidence.

"Your fighting style is incredibly familiar, child…" He remarked, even as he dodged two quick jabs and blocked a roundhouse kick with the back of his forearm.

"I-am-not-a-_child!_" Brother Blood leapt up, turned in midair and launched a devastating kick at Slade's head…which he caught between his metal gauntleted wrists.

Brother Blood's red eyes widened as he hopped on one foot. Slade leaned forward slightly, and the vampire could almost see the amused, toothless smile underneath his mask.

"If this is all you have to offer, Brother Blood," Slade intoned to him from behind his mask. "Then you will never see another sunrise. Haugh!"

Slade pivoted around and tossed the vampire hard to the carpeted floor. Brother Blood grit his teeth and his crimson eyes were flashing as he made it back to his feet.

"Ha!"

The flung fireball caught Slade full in the chest and the villain was thrown through the air. When gravity came back into play, he landed back first on the seat of one of the pews. Calling up a wind, Brother Blood followed him and crashed his fist through the seat…where Slade's head had been a split second before.

**SMACK!**

Brother Blood was kicked in the chest. With his red cape flapping, he back flipped, hand vaulted off the back of a pew and then landed precariously on the back of another. Slade did the same and, charging each other across those narrow footholds, continued their battle.

While Raven and Bard had been tending to Starfire, the black robed 'guests' had been attacking Kitten and Jinx. Kitten was laying about her with her huge laser rifle, and Jinx was tossing hex bolts one after another. But those fate-altering pink energy orbs were taking their affect on the integrity of the structure of the cavern. Stalactites and rock debris rained down from the ceiling. The ground began to tremble, and then it began to shake.

"Earthquake!" Bard yelled with his teeth rattling inside his head.

**CRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAACK!**

The rock shrieked deafeningly loud. The cowboy looked up and saw that a huge slab of rock was falling right at them! Futilely, he grabbed Raven and laid his body over hers and Starfire's and grit his teeth as he waited for the slab to slam into them…

**SWOOSH!**

Bard looked up.

"Superboy?" He said incredulously.

"In the flesh!" The Boy of Steel grinned and winked…even as he held the giant slab of rock over his head. With a low grunt, he tossed it harmlessly away. "I can't believe you had a party without inviting _me_! Nice fashion statement, by the way."

Bard opened his mouth.

"Raven's looking good, though." Superboy kept going, but then he paused. "How did Starfire get here?"

**CRAAAAAAACK! BOOM!**

Another slab fell from the ceiling and smashed to pieces about twenty yards away.

"I'll explain later!" Bard yelled over the rumble of the earthquake. "But now we gotta get the hell out of Dodge!"

Superboy nodded and scooped up Starfire. Bard held his arms out to his sister, and Raven settled down into his arms.

"All right," he said when they were ready. "Let's go."

They took to the air and flew back down aisle…passing right by where Slade and Brother Blood grappled with each other.

"No!" Brother Blood yelled when he saw them. The vampire disentangled himself, called up a wind and streaked after them.

Bard turned in midair to face him. But with Raven in his arms, there was nothing he could do as Brother Blood came at him faster and faster with his fist reared back…

**WHAMMM!**

Bard…wasn't hurt. Instead, Brother Blood went flying backwards and a green gorilla was beating his huge arms against his meaty chest.

"Beast Boy?"

The changeling turned back to elf form and turned to the cowboy.

"The one and only!" He gave a thumb's up…unaware that Brother Blood had gotten back up to his feet.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!"

**CRRRRRRRAAAACK! SMASSSH!**

A slab of rock that spanned the distance of the cavern fell between them. Beast Boy knelt and held his hands over his head while Bard turned away as the rock, debris and dust settled down. When it was finished, Beast Boy sweat dropped.

"Hurry it up, guys!" Superboy called to them from somewhere up ahead. "This earthquake's gonna block the exit if we don't get a move on!"

Without warning, Beast Boy changed into a furry, emerald squirrel, clamored up Bard's leg and over Raven to bury himself into the cowboy's long cape.

"Remind me to kill Beast Boy." Raven remarked, but it didn't come out as its usually drone. This time, her tone had quite a bit of levity in it.

"Kill Beast Boy," Bard reminded her immediately before continuing towards the passageway. When they entered, however, they were thrown into inky blackness. Bard hummed under his breath…

"Hold that for me, Raven." He said when the ball of light appeared in his hand. His sister slowly reached out to take it. She touched it once quickly before grabbing it as if she were afraid it would burn her. "Thanks,"

The light wasn't the best. They were zipping speedily through the passage a lot faster than one would walk, and the falling rock and debris didn't help matters. Shadows dance everywhere as Bard swooped left and right to avoid debris.

And finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Bard realized they were out as sweet, night air assaulted his nostrils. He joined Superboy and , floating in midair, turned back to the passage.

The top of the cliff face ponderously collapsed into itself, filling up the caverns beneath. Dark gray dust billowed up in a huge cloud.

"Guess we won't be seeing Slade or Brother Blood again." Superboy commented.

"No," Bard disagreed. "We're not that lucky."

"Pssh! How do you know how lucky I am?"

"Fine," Bard corrected himself. "_I'm_ not that lucky, then."

**SCCKKRIIIII!**

A green hawk flew out of Bard's cape and swooped off.

"For once," Raven said. "I agree with Beast Boy. Let's go home."

Bard certainly wasn't going to argue with her.

Under the night sky, Bard came to a soft landing on the roof of Titans Tower and gently set Raven back onto her feet. Before the cowboy could say anything, Raven was already holding out his gold cross pendant to him.

"…"

"Don't you want it back?" Raven asked.

Bard stared at it for a moment, and then he looked up slightly to look into Raven's eyes.

"It did something to you, didn't it?"

"…" It was Raven's turn to be silent.

"It blocks Trigon, doesn't it?" Bard guessed. "And let's you feel emotions, too, right?"

"Yes," Raven admitted.

Bard looked up at the stars for a moment, and then he looked back into Raven's face.

"Then…then you keep it."

"But you need it." She pointed out. "Your arm…"

"I'll tell you honestly, Raven." Bard said it very directly, even as he took his cross pendant and put it over her head and around her neck.. "I'd rather have you feel emotions than me feel my arm."

"…"

Raven's eyes flooded with tears.

"…I love you," she finally, _finally_ uttered as she fell forward and clung to him.

Bard's eyes widened in surprise, but then he brought his arms around her and returned the hug.

"I…me, too."

He had lived on this earth for eighteen years. And over the span of all those years, he'd made friends and enemies and he'd found love. But he had never found family. But now, hugging his sister on the roof of a building shaped like a giant 'T', he felt as if his life had truly begun.

"…."

"…"

"…"

"…So," Bard finally said. "Think we'll beat Britney's record when we get the annulment?"

And his sister actually laughed, and that magnificent sound was like a silver bell ringing in Bard's ears

"Starfire!" Robin almost squealed when he saw her. He lunged forward and wrapped his arms around her in a bear hug.

"I am elated to see you as well!" She gasped for air. "Robin, I am in need of oxygen!"

"Oh, sorry." Robin almost reluctantly let go.

Cyborg blinked.

"Now _that_ was a switch…"

Robin looked around sheepishly.

"Ahem," he cleared his throat, bringing back his 'leader voice'. "It's good to have you back."

"Why don't they just kiss already?" Beast Boy snickered in a whisper to Superboy.

The Boy of Steel laughed, and Robin looked at them suspiciously.

"Well," he finally said. "I think it's time for bed. It's been a long, _long_ day."

No one disagreed.

Bard and Raven walked wordlessly down that hallway side by side. They weren't exactly walking hand in hand in domestic bliss, but there was a kind of closeness in their stroll that had been always been absent before.

"I have decision to make, ya know." The dark sorceress remarked, breaking the comfortable silence between them.

"Oh, yeah?" Bard looked over at his sister curiously. "About what?"

"If I decide to keep your necklace I'll have to…" Her voice trailed off.

"You'll have to do what?"

"I'll have to…quit being a Teen Titan."

"What for?"

"This pendant might let me feel emotion," Raven told him. "But it also negates my powers. That why Zillah put it on me in the first place, remember?"

Bard scratched at his hair as he thought about it.

"But that shouldn't be a problem though, right?" He asked her. "I mean, you could wear it around the tower. Then, when it's time to take the bad guys to the woodshed, you could take it off."

"Unfortunately, it's not as simple as that." Raven explained to him. "My powers are based on my emotions. I have to keep them very tightly controlled. And I couldn't do that if they're running around unbridled on a regular basis. Things would blow up…small things like cars and buildings."

"That wouldn't be a good thing." Bard said with sardonic understatement. But then his voice got more serious. "What are you gonna do?"

"I…don't know." She admitted. "I'll have to consider it carefully."

"Well, whatever you do, Raven; whatever decision you make, I'll be with you all the way."

She looked up at him.

"You mean…if I decided to quit the Titans, you'd do the same thing?"

"Of course," Bard told her with wink. "Family's got to stay together, after all."

They reached Raven's door and she hugged him again.

"Thank you," she said. Then she gave him a sad smile before stepping into her room.

Bard walked on to his own room. As he took off his 'vampire clothes', (And good riddance), and changed into something a little more natural and comfortable…He couldn't remember being happier.

And Raven's decision was foremost in his mind as he laid himself down on his bed and fell asleep.


	51. Another Wedding?

"_Women are silly creatures." - Bard_

_**CHAPTER FIFTY ONE**_

_**ANOTHER WEDDING?**_

"Jonny, wake up."

Bard muttered something unintelligible under his breath and rolled over on his bed, pulling the covers messily along with him.

"C'mon, Jonny! We're gonna be late for the wedding!"

"Wedding?" Bard grumbled, still mostly asleep. "Our wedding was last night, Raven. Go back to sleep."

"Uh…I'm not Raven." A pause. "And you must have had a _really_ weird dream last night."

"Wyrd? Hmm?" Bard rolled wearily over to his back, blindly found his glasses on his bedside table and looked up…and almost had a massive heart attack.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Amber asked, flicking her long black hair out of her face.

"Y-you're alive!" The cowboy couldn't believe his eyes.

Amber blinked those incredible light blue eyes of hers.

"Of course I am…" Her full lips pursed. "Oh, I get it. Slade blasted you with that mind gas stuff yesterday. It must not have cleared away entirely yet."

"He did?" It was Bard's turn to blink. "Oh…I r-reckon he did."

"Well, get up!" Amber patted him on the shoulder before giving him a quick peck on the lips. "You're supposed to give Starfire away, so we _can't_ be late!"

Bard blinked…for the second time.

"I'm giving Starfire away?" A third blink. "Starfire's getting _married_?"

Concern flooded into Amber's eyes.

"Of course she is," she told him. "Are you feeling okay? If that mind stuff is still bothering you-"

"No," Bard disagreed, knowing what she was going to say. "I'll be okay. I'm just a little forgetful." He paused. "Starfire…she _is_ getting married to Robin, isn't she?"

"Who else would she be getting married to?"

Bard decided not to answer that.

"C'mon," Amber urged him up. "I've already got your clothes picked out."

"Thanks, mommy." He grinned and winked at her as he stood up.

"Punk," Amber laughed and punched him in the shoulder.

"Ow!" Bard clutched his right arm as if he had been mortally wounded.

"Oh!" Amber immediately jumped comfortingly on him. "Did I hurt you?"

"'Course not." Bard grinned devilishly at her. "You couldn't hurt me if you wanted to!"

"You're mean," Amber pouted, but she nevertheless kissed him again. "Now hurry up and get dressed. I don't wanna be late. I'll wait for you in the main room."

When she was gone, Bard walked over to where she had laid some clothes out for him. But half way there, he caught a glimpse of himself in a tall mirror. He stopped and looked at his shirtless torso. He was in better shape than he had thought. Smooth, unblemished skin covered the lean, clearly defined muscles of his shoulders, stomach and chest. Unconsciously, (And a little egotistically as well, the cowboy admitted to himself), he lifted his arms over his head in pose. He laughed shortly and, shaking his head ruefully at himself, walked over and started getting dressed.

When he was finished, Bard was happy with the results. He wore a black cowboy hat over his tied back hair and his customary dark, round glasses. He wore a black, button up shirt, and a silver cross pendant was kept in place at the top of collar by a cowboy tie. Over that, he wore a dark brown, leather western style coat. The ensemble was finished off by tight blue jeans, black cowboy boots and a nice, silver buckle. The cowboy grinned at his reflection. He was in his element and he was loving every minute of it.

Humming an upbeat country tune under his breath, he headed out the door towards the main room. When he walked in and saw Amber, though, he stopped dead in his tracks and stared.

"What?" She asked, unconsciously fidgeting with her hair.

"You're…beautiful." He half stuttered.

She beamed at him.

"Aren't you a nice boy to say it?" She grinned outrageously at him. "You're not looking bad, either." She added with a wink.

But Bard was still staring at her. She wore a blue dress with ruffles at the bodice, and she looked like a sea goddess emerging from the waves. Her long black hair was soft and fluid and her light blue eyes glittered like stars. The pale, snow like skin of her face turned red under his gaze.

"C'mon!" She said through her blush. "We have to go!"

The cowboy let his angel lead him to the elevator and down the garage. Completely out of habit, he straddled his Harley and turned to offer his hand to her when they arrived down there.

"Uh…" She looked at his vehicle speculatively. "I don't think I'm dressed to be riding on a bike." She told him, looking pointedly down at her dress. "Anyway," she added. "Transportation's already been arranged."

Bard's eyebrow raised.

**HONK! HONK!**

"Right on cue," Amber smiled and winked at him. She took Bard's arm with her right hand and lead him outside.

"_We're_ riding in _that?_" Bard asked incredulously as he looked over the long, white limousine with the black tinted windows.

"You don't see anyone else out here, do you?" She asked him as she opened and held the door for him.

Bard squinted at her from behind his glasses.

"I'm the one who's supposed to hold the door open." He objected.

"You're _too_ polite sometimes." Amber noted. "Why don't you let me do something nice for a change?"

Bard shrugged, put a hand on his hat to keep in place and crawled into the limo. Amber gracefully followed him.

"…"

"…"

"Hey!" Bard exclaimed. "There's a TV in here!"

Bard felt like a movie star when he stepped out of the limo behind Amber. There was an carpeted pathway that led up to the front entrance of the huge cathedral, and a crowd of onlookers gathered around on either side of it, held back by low, iron barricades and a few off duty policemen.

"Bard!" A faceless, nameless voice of a woman yelled out longingly for him from the crowd.

Bard wrapped his arm around Amber's shoulders and smiled nervously, using his other hand to wave at the crowd half-heartedly. He knew the Teen Titans were fairly famous in this city, but he never knew _he_ was…

Thankfully, he and Amber reached the door being held open by an usher and stepped inside without incident.

"Sure are a lot of people here." The cowboy commented.

"There are a lot of people who want to see Robin and Starfire married." Amber shrugged. "Now come on." And she lead him away again.

Before Bard knew it, he and Amber were in a small antechamber of the church…with Starfire.

"Bard!" Starfire turned to him. "I am elated to see you."

"Wow," Bard almost lost his breath as he looked at her. "You make a good looking bride."

"Don't make me jealous," Amber nudged him good naturedly.

Starfire was dressed in a traditional, long white wedding dress with a flowing train at its back. The gown was covered with tiny gold beads around Starfire's chest and torso. Her long red hair fell in delicate curls along her back and about her shoulders.

"Are you sure?" Starfire fretted cutely. "I am doubtful of my hair and the up of the make Terra painted on my face makes it itch so…"

"Uh…Terra?" Bard vaguely remembered Beast Boy mentioning her name some time before.

Starfire blinked her emerald green eyes at him.

"Forgive him, Star." Amber stepped in for him. Bard noticed that, for some strange reason, she used the same nickname for her that he and Robin used. "The mind gas Slade hit him with yesterday is still affecting him."

"Oh," Compassion immediately flooded into Starfire's eyes. "Are you terribly unwell? If-"

"I'm _fine_," Bard stressed to her. "I'm just…a little forgetful, I reckon."

Starfire opened her mouth to say something else, but an usher peeked his head in at that exact moment.

"Five minutes, Miss Starfire. The bridesmaids will be called out soon." He said respectfully before popping back out as quickly as he had popped in.

"Oh!" Starfire said worriedly, quickly turning to a mirror to make sure she looked all right.

"You look beautiful, Star." Amber told her, walking over. She took her chin firmly in her hand and made the alien look up into her face. She strategically positioned a few tendrils of her hair down one shoulder and she placed another dramatically down her cheekbone.

"There," she approved with a slight nod. "Now you're ready."

"Thank you," Starfire smiled. Then she turned to Bard. "And thank you as well. I hear it is a custom for a bride's father to give her away to her groom, but since mine…is not here, I am glad it is you who will deliver me up to Robin. You were, after all, quite instrumental in this coming to pass."

"It-it's my pleasure," Bard scratched the back of his hair under his hat a little nervously.

Soft piano music picked up in the main hall, and Amber's eyes lit up.

"It's time for the bridesmaids." Amber announced. She walked over to Bard and gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek. She turned to Starfire. "And you look great." She assured the Tamaranean before opening the door and walking out into the main hall.

"You really do look great." Bard repeated when he saw that Starfire's eyes were still nervous. "Trust me," he added. "Robin's eyes will fall out when he sees you."

"But I do not wish to injure Robin's eyes!"

Bard laughed heartily. Her most endearing traits were here innocence and her overwhelming compassion for anything that lived or breathed. It was those two traits, along with her beauty, of course, that had almost made him fall for her himself.

"No, Star." He explained. "When Robin sees you…he'll see the most beautiful woman in the world. That I promise."

Starfire's eyes half filled up with tears.

"Thank you, Jonny." She whispered, giving him a sisterly kiss on the cheek…while the cowboy blushed furiously.

Thankfully, the wedding march started up in the hall before Starfire could embarrass him anymore.

"I reckon that's our cue." Bard suggested, holding out his arm to her.

"But-"

"Everything will be fine, Star. Trust me."

Starfire looked up into his eyes for a moment, but then she nodded and took his arm.

"Then…let us proceed."

Bard opened the double doors leading into the main hall, and the two of them started their stately march down the aisle. The walk up to the altar seemed to take forever, and Bard took that opportunity to have a look around. Everyone and their brother seemed to be there, packed into row after row of red upholstered pews. Most of those in attendance seemed to be civilians, but there were a few that were obviously superheroes. One teen with long black hair, dark eyes and a blue and black jumpsuit caught Bard's eyes, and another teen with orange hair and an eye mask that looked almost identical to Robin's was sitting near him.

A trail of multicolored flower petals strewn along the aisle lead Bard's eyes up to the front of the hall. Robin was before the altar and, sure enough, his eyes were totally fixated upon Starfire's radiant face. Bard half grinned to himself when he realized the Boy Wonder probably wasn't even aware that he was beside her…or aware of the fact that _anyone_ besides Starfire was in the huge hall. Cyborg hulked large behind him in a tuxedo, and beside him were Beast Boy and Superboy, all dressed in matching suits.

A cute little girl in a pale lavender dress and holding a small basket was standing near the altar, and Bard suddenly got the feeling that they had met before. He wracked his brains, trying to remember and…Bridget! It was the little girl he had met in the orphanage, just before his first fight with Tim. He smiled at her and she grinned right back.

On the other side stood the bridesmaids and, except for Amber, they were dressed in sleek, silky white dresses and matching heels that, to Bard, looked extremely uncomfortable. He immediately recognized Amber and Raven, but he had never seen the third girl before. She had a small, narrow frame, wispy blonde hair and large, blue eyes. She smiled across the altar at Beast Boy, and the changeling grinned and waved goofily. The girl giggled back at him.

He and Starfire finally reached the altar, and he lead Starfire up beside Robin before taking the ritualistic, respectful step back across from Amber. As the preacher started up, Bard tuned him out and concentrated on Robin and Starfire. Starfire's eyes were very wide, but her radiant face had a demure, contented cast to it. Robin, on the other hand, stared at her as if he had never seen her before. Her beauty seemed to sink through his eye mask into his eyes, and the Boy Wonder looked as if would die first before he would his eyes turned away from her.

When the preacher finally got to the 'I do' part, Bard noticed that Amber's eyes had teared up…along with Raven's and the blonde haired girl's as well.

'_Women…'_

"I do,"

"I do,"

The whole place seemed to freeze in place. That noiseless moment in time drug on and on and on…

"Yo, Robin!" The orange haired hero yelled out from the crowd. "You gonna kiss her, or what?"

The crowd let out a collective laugh.

Robin gave the teen a sheepish grin, dipped Starfire dramatically and pressed his lips against hers…

And the whole place exploded. Bard actually winced at the deafening roar of approval from the crowd in the hall, and the hundreds more outside.

Music picked up again, and Robin and Starfire walked back up the aisle. The bridesmaids and the groomsmen followed after them, hooking up with each other arm in arm. Bard hooked up with Amber, Raven was paired up with Superboy, Beast Boy walked down beside the blonde girl and Cyborg brought up the rear of the procession.

Before he knew it, Bard and the others were whisked back into the white limos outside.

"Where are we going?" Bard wanted to know.

"To the reception party." Amber answered him. "Enjoy it, this is the fun part."

When they pulled up to the large club that had been rented for the day, Amber and Bard stepped out.

"Dude!" Beast Boy was exclaiming from where he and the blonde bridesmaid had gotten out of their limousine. "There was a TV in there!"

"I said the exact same thing." Bard said to him as he and Amber walked up to them.

"Bard, what's up?" The changeling greeted him, but then his green face scrunched up. "Dude, why aren't you wearing a tux?"

The cowboy's eyebrow raised.

"Could you imagine _me_ in a _tuxedo_?"

"Hmm," Beast Boy thought about it. "…guess not."

"Man!" Superboy burst out as soon as he got out of the limo he and Raven had rode up in. "I can't believe that sucker had a _TV_ in it!"

"Yes," Raven droned sarcastically from behind him. "It's a miracle."

Amber looked at Superboy, then to Beast Boy, then up at Bard.

"_Men_," she muttered under her breath with a roll of her eyes.

"Heh," Bard sweat dropped. "Maybe…we ought to go in."

The only word Bard could find for the inside of the club was…lavish. Extremely lavish. There were a hundred lit candles in the pattern of large heart at the front of the dance hall and incredibly tall, flowing curtains that fell down from the ceiling. There was a small orchestra to one side of the room and there were balloons and streamers everywhere.

It was nice, Bard figured, but it was a little stuffy for his tastes. Raven stepped up behind him.

"A little overdone, I think." She commented. "I was praying they wouldn't go overboard, but I suppose God was looking the other way at the moment."

"My thoughts exactly." Bard agreed. He took a moment to really look at her. She wore the sleek, white bridesmaid dress and the golden chain and cross pendant around her neck. "You're looking good today." He complimented her.

Instead of thanking her brother, she turned to Amber instead.

"You trained him well." His sister told her.

"He wasn't _that_ bad before I got my hands on him." Amber replied modestly.

Bard squinted at the two of them. He felt like he was outnumbered in a game he didn't know how to play…not to mention a game he wasn't even _aware_ he was playing…

"We're only kidding." Amber assured him, seeing his look. But the cowboy noticed the sly look she shot at Raven.

He muttered about that under his breath.

"So where are Robin and Starfire at?" Beast Boy asked them.

"They haven't got here yet, B." Superboy answered him.

"Pssh! What's up with that?" Beast Boy demanded. "I've been to a couple of weddings, and it always takes the married couple a while to get to the party. What gives?"

"Uh…" Bard opened his mouth to explain, but after a quick glance at Amber, he decided to shut it again.

"What?" The changeling pushed. "What's the big secret?"

Smiling devilishly, the blonde girl leaned forward and whispered something in his ear.

"Terra!" Beast Boy exclaimed when she was finished, his normally green face bright red.

Everyone laughed good naturedly, but Terra's giggle sounded a bit wicked…Bard began to have his suspicions about her and Beast Boy at that point.

"Yo, Jon-boy!" A burly voice called out from across the hall. Bard tried to peek through the crowd to see who had called him, but that wasn't really necessary…seeing as how the person who had called him stood a good foot over just about everyone in the dance hall.

"Tim!" Bard stared. "But you're-"

"Stylin' and profilin'!" Tim finished for him, striking a muscular pose. The big man seemed a little out of place in his tuxedo…which Bard strongly suspected had to be specialty made.

Bard's old friend looked down appreciatively at Amber.

"You're a lucky dog, Jonny." Tim told him.

"Hmph," Bard said with a twinkle in his eye. "She's more trouble than she's worth, most of the time."

"Hey!" Amber socked him in the stomach.

"Oof!" He had actually felt that one…but he wasn't going to let down all manhood by admitting it.

"Are you okay?" Amber asked him.

"See what I mean?" Bard directed the question at Tim.

"Pssh!" Superboy cut in. "I'd like to see a girl hit _me_ like that!"

"I'm a girl," Raven pointed out to the Boy of Steel. "And I've hit you like that."

"You have not!"

**ZAP!**

"Now I have," Raven smiled at he went flying back from her zap of black telekinesis.

Bard was grinning broadly at that when he felt Amber tugging on his sleeve.

"Hmm?" He asked her.

"Let's go mingle." She suggested.

Bard blinked.

"What for?"

"Because I want to show you off, that's why!" Amber grinned up at him. "I want to see all the other girls gnaw on their own livers when they realize you're taken."

Bard blinked again.

"I'm fairly sure I'll never understand that."

"No," Amber agreed. "Probably not. Now let's go!"

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Robin and Starfire arrived not long later, and their faces were flushed with pure happiness. Starfire wore that almost smug look that all brides seemed to have once everything was official, and Robin looked somewhere between hopelessly loss and marginally intoxicated.

Cyborg walked up to Bard and nudged him in the side.

"Shouldn't you be gettin' ready, man?" He suggested to him.

"Huh?"

"As soon as Star throws her bouquet, you're supposed to do the song for the first dance." Bard blinked. Cyborg had called her 'Star', too…

"But I didn't bring my guitar,"

"They got one for you on the stage, dawg. Go get ready!"

Bard walked hesitantly up to the stage. He was supposed to sing the song for Starfire's and Robin's first dance…but what song?

While he had stepped on the small stage and picked up the alien guitar, the girls were clamoring around Starfire. The bride had her back to them, and a multicolored bouquet was in her hands. The cowboy suddenly got nervous, though, when he spotted Amber right at the head of the crowd.

"Hyah!" Starfire yelled out happily as she flung the flowers blindly behind her. Bard let out a sigh of relief when the bouquet soared high over Amber's head…but it was headed right at Raven.

'_Oh, no…'_

**ZAP!**

Black telekinesis enveloped the flowers and sent them back forward…right into Amber's outstretched hands.

"Yes!" She exclaimed exuberantly before casting a smug look over at where Bard stood on the stage.

The cowboy sweat dropped and scratched his cheek sheepishly.

"All right!" Cyborg had snatched a microphone from somewhere. "Robin, Star, get your butts on the dance floor! It's time for the first dance! And providing the song is the one and only Jonny 'The Bard' Johnson! Boo-ya!"

'_He said my real name…'_ Bard tried to think to himself, but the tremendous roar of approval from the crowd blotted it out.

The cowboy decided on a song at the last minute and started to pick at his guitar.

_# It was no accident…Me finding you_

_Someone had a hand in it_

_Long before we ever knew_

_Now I just can't believe… You're in my life_

_Heaven's smiling down on me_

_When I look at you tonight…#_

Bard smiled in the midst of his song at Robin and Starfire, slow dancing in the middle of the dance floor. The guests gave them lots of room and gathered around them in a wide circle. As they danced, the bride and groom absolutely refused to break eye contact with each other.

_# I tip my hat… To the Keeper of the Stars…_

_He sure knew what he was doin'… When he joined these two hearts…_

_I hold everything… When I hold you in my arms…_

_I've got all I'll ever need… Thanks to the Keeper of the Stars…#_

_# Soft moonlight on your face… Oh how you shine_

_It takes my breath away… Just to look into your eyes_

_I know I don't deserve … a treasure like you_

_There really are no words… To show my gratitude#_

Bard glanced over to where Amber stood off to one side, still holding the bouquet she had caught. Tears filled her eyes, but the cowboy wasn't sure if it was from watching Robin and Starfire, or if it was from the song he was singing. True, he was technically singing it for the newlyweds…but in a very real way, he was also singing for Amber.

_# I tip my hat… To the Keeper of the Stars…_

_He sure knew what he was doin'… When he joined these two hearts…_

_I hold everything… When I hold you in my arms…_

_I've got all I'll ever need… Thanks to the Keeper of the Stars…#_

_#It was no accident… Me finding…you…#_

Bard finished the song with a strum of the strings…and stared dumbfounded as the crowd gave him a long, drawn out, standing ovation. He grinned nervously to himself.

'_I never knew I was that good…'_

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Not long later, the orchestra struck up another slow tune and Bard found himself slow dancing with Amber. Bard was content with just holding her close in silence, but his love had other ideas.

"I caught the bouquet, you know…" She finally commented in an offhand way.

"I noticed that," Bard replied just as nonchalantly.

"You know what that means, right?"

"It's just some ole silly tradition, ain't it?" Bard asked, but he immediately saw the danger signs as the edges of Amber's eyes tightened.

"Silly?" She objected.

"I might've used the wrong word, I reckon.." Bard tried to cover up his mistake futilely.

"_Silly!" _She flared again.

"I meant to say, uh…well…"

"This _would_ be a good time for us to get married." Amber told him. "We've finally found each other again, and your music career has taken off. And I don't have to worry about you getting hurt fighting those wackos in the city."

Bard blinked. He wasn't a Titan anymore? He blinked again. He had a _music_ career?

"Speaking of which," Amber went on. "We need to get back to the Tower. You have a concert in Metropolis tomorrow night."

"Oh…right…"

An hour or so later, Amber and Bard were laying in his bed. They had said their goodbyes to their friends, wished Starfire and Robin good luck and left as unobtrusively as possible. But Bard had been surprised by how many people from the crowd outside had clamored around them.

"The wedding was beautiful, wasn't it, Jonny?" Amber asked him dreamily.

Bard groaned sarcastically.

"I knew it was a mistake to take you there."

Amber eyed him suspiciously.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Whenever a woman sees a wedding, she starts to imagine her own." Bard explained. "Women are silly creatures."

"There's that word again." Amber said it a little dangerously.

"You noticed that, didn't you?" Bard winked at her.

"You'll never change." She said affectionately before turning over and kissing him quite seriously.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

A few hours later, Bard was still holding Amber in his arms and he was somewhere between being half asleep and half awake. He was dreaming, but he was still very much aware of the warm body snuggled up next to his.

"_I can't get close to anyone."_ Raven's voice echoed from somewhere. _"Whether it be a lover or a family member."_

"_I don't want to talk about your mythical god."_

"_If you want me to treat you like a stranger, I will. I will always be your sister. Blood ties cannot be changed. But I cannot allow myself to be anymore than someone's friend. If you can't accept that, then maybe you shouldn't have become a Titan at all."_

"_You just don't understand…"_

Bard's eyes fluttered beneath his closed eyelids.

"_Have you told your super powered friends about all the things you've done? I'm sure they would understand."_

It was Brother Blood's voice this time.

"_It looks like you were wrong after all, Bard.. The sun did set, didn't it?"_

Bard awoke suddenly, breathing hard.

Something was wrong…


	52. Weapons of Mass Distraction

_"I'm not paying you to think, jackass! I'm paying you to do whatever the hell I say!" - Commissioner Walker_

_**CHAPTER FIFTY TWO**_

_**WEAPONS OF MASS DISTRACTION**_

Bard came awake suddenly, his unnaturally pale skin covered in a sheen of cold sweat. He was breathing hard and his dark blue eyes were haunted. Slowly, as to avoid waking Amber, he sat up and swung his feet to the floor. Then, he planted his elbows into his knees and lowered his head into his hands, causing long strands of brown hair to swoop down into his face. He heard the bed creak softly in protest as Amber shifted her weight behind him.

"Jonny?" She asked him groggily, her voice clouded with sleep. "What's the matter?"

"I've got everything I've ever wanted." His answer came out as a barely audible whisper.

"Wouldn't that be a good thing?" Amber replied quizzically, and Bard could tell from her tone that he had his love's full, undivided attention. "What's wrong with having all your dreams come true?"

"Well, for most people, I reckon there's not a thing in the world wrong with it." Bard told her. "But for me . . . " His voice trailed off.

"Why would it be wrong for you?" Amber wanted to know. She had crawled over to hug him from behind.

"Because . . . " He sighed bitterly. "Because I'm not that lucky."

"Jonny?" He voice was filled with concern. "What are you talking about?"

"_This!_" Bard disentangled himself from her, stood up and vaguely waved his arms at everything around him as he turned to face her. "This isn't the way it's supposed to be! Tim should be in an insane asylum somewhere, Raven should be a cold atheist, I don't even know who that Terra girl is and you . . . " He paused. "I'm not even sure where you're supposed to be. But if I had to guess-" He stopped himself. There were some things he refused to even think about, much less put into voice.

"..."

Bard's body flickered briefly as if he were a hologram on the fritz.

"Jonny?" Amber gasped. "What-"

"I have to leave now." He told her quietly, remorsefully. "It's time form me-" He stopped to swallow down the lump in this throat. "It's time for me . . . to go back home."

"What?" Unshed tears had turned Amber's eyes to molten silver and the expression on her flawless face was a mixture of confusion, fear and hurt. "But you can't leave . . . You promised! You said there wouldn't be any-"

"Amber," Bard interrupted her softly. His voice was hoarse and it actually seemed like it was weeping. "In this place . . . The sun never even rose."

"Jonny! No!"

But it was too late.

**ZHKRRIIITT!**

When Bard opened his eyes, they were assaulted by an ocean-like void of white. With a mechanical hiss, that whiteness slid away . . .

"Dude, are you all right?"

"Yes, are you undamaged, friend?"

"We thought your brain was toasted for a while there, dawg."

"We shouldn't dwell on what might have been, Cyborg. The important thing is that Bard's okay." Robin paused and looked down at the cowboy. "You are okay . . . right?"

Bards groaned and slowly sat up, his reeling mind barely registering the fact the fact that he was clad in only jeans and black cowboy boots.

"What happened?" He asked, tiredly leaning his head forward onto his palms.

"I finally finished the T-Trainer." Cyborg explained to him. "We wanted to test it out, so this morning we brought you in here while you were still asleep and logged you in."

"What?" He asked, his voice low and dangerous. But apparently, Cyborg didn't catch the warning tone in his voice.

"I just told you," Cyborg repeated, completely oblivious to the fact that Bard's eyes had become two narrow slits behind his prescription shades. "We wanted to test out the T-Trainer and-"

Bard's functioning hand shot out and grabbed the big titan by his metal collar. He tried to pull him forward, but the cowboy had forgotten just how big and heavy the titanium hybrid truly was. They ended up face to face as he had intended, but it was because he had pulled himself toward Cyborg and not the other way around. But Bard was unfazed.

"You call ripping my heart out a damn _test?_!" He demanded with uncharacteristic harshness.

"Hey, chill out, man." Superboy said from somewhere behind him.

"Yes," Starfire agreed immediately. "Please moderate your temperature. I do not like it when friends yell at friends."

Bard barely glanced at them.

"Let him go, Bard." Robin said it firmly.

Reluctantly, Bard released his grip on him.

"C'mon, man!" Cyborg objected, rubbing his neck absently.

"Yeah, what's your deal?" Beast Boy added.

"What did you see in there?" Raven asked him quietly.

The found a bit of solace in his sister's eyes and took in a deep breath.

"In there," he started. "In that...world...I had everything I ever wanted. Every single dream of mine came true. But, in the end, that's how I knew it wasn't real."

"But how..." Suddenly, a light bulb seemed to appear over Cyborg's head. "That's it! Incredible..."

"What is it?" Raven asked irritably. "Don't be vague."

"Tell me what happened."

Cyborg looked over at him.

"Like I said," The robot started to explain again. "When you were still asleep, we brought you in here and hooked you up to the T-Trainer. I made a program where you could fight a few baddies. But as soon as we hooked you in, Overload-"

"It had an overload?"

"No, I'm talking about the villain."

Bard looked at him blankly.

"Dude!" Beast Boy waved his skinny arms through the air. "You don't know who Overload is? He's the big...the big...uh, dude! What is Overload, anyway?"

"He looked like a giant computer virus to me." Superboy shrugged.

"That's as good an description as any." Robin agreed. "He's a villain made of energy. But every once in a while, he has to come out of wherever he hides to suck up more energy...usually from electronics."

"Right," Cyborg continued. "But this time, he decided to attack Titans Tower...and the T-Trainer. The program you were in crashed, so we had to take you out before you crashed with it. But we didn't have another program to stick you in, so we had to put you into the mainframe."

"How does that explain why...what happened to me happened?" Bard wanted to know.

"Simple," Cyborg replied logically, holding a titanium finger up. "You weren't in a program, so the mainframe created one using the information in your brain."

"As well as his desires." Raven said quietly.

Everyone blinked.

"But...that can't be right. T-There was a girl there, and I'd never seen her before." Bard unconsciously glanced at Beast Boy.

Robin pondered that, rubbing his chin.

"So not only did the mainframe use your brain to make a program, but it also used its own information banks..."

"I'll take your word for it." Bard murmured.

Raven was looking at him compassionately.

"It hurt, didn't it?" She asked him. "Giving all that up that way?"

"..."

Wordlessly, Raven stepped up and hugged him.

"Uh..." Beast Boy sweat dropped as everyone else stared.

Meanwhile, Cyborg was already at the main computer station.

"I have to study this program it made." He was saying over his shoulder at them. "Could you imagine the type of video game...er, training program I could make from the information here?"

"Wait!" Bard stepped forward and raised up his hand, but he had said it a lot more sharply than he had meant to. Everyone stared. "Uh..there's, um, some things on there you shouldn't see..."

Beast Boy snickered.

"Hey," Superboy told them magnanimously. "He's a man, and he got everything he wanted..."

Bard blushed to the roots of his hair.

"Well..." Cyborg rubbed his metal scalp. "I can always skip over the more...uh, explicit parts..."

"It's not just that." Bard told him, trying to get the red out of his face. "I still want you to delete it."

Robin peered closer at him, his eye slits curious.

"Why do you want it deleted so badly?"

"..."

"Don't worry about it, dawg." Cyborg said to the cowboy. "As soon as I'm finished studying it, I'll delete it. No one else will see it. We cool?"

". . .Yeah, we're, uh, chilled."

"Frosty," the robot corrected him.

"Huh?"

"Nevermind,"

A stylized beat from Robin's communicator filled the room. Robin looked down at it and then back up to the other Titans.

"Trouble..."

"What are you doing just sitting there with you thumb up you ass, Slick?" Commissioner Walker yelled at his subordinate. "Put up some damn barricades!"

"B-barricades?"

"You know what the hell barricades are, don'tcha?"

"Well, y-yes, sir." The officer replied. "B-b-but-"

"Spit it out!"

"I thought you didn't like barricades, sir."

Walker squinted at him.

"What the hell gave you that idea?"

"Well, sir, at the incident yesterday at Titans Tower, you didn't want us to put it up barricades. As well as the high speed chase not too long ago... So I just thought-"

"I'm not paying you to think, jackass!" The Commissioner's face was red. "I'm paying you to do whatever the hell I say! And right now, I'm telling your ass to put up some barricades! So do it!"

"Y-yes, sir!"

Walker watched as the young man ran off.

"Heh, I think I like that guy..."

"Your surly reputation would be ruined if someone heard you say that."

Walker swivled around to see...

"Wonder Boy!" He exclaimed brusquely. "We have more important things going on right now than protecting my rep!" He paused. "Though I would appreciate you keeping your damn mouth closed..."

"..."

"..."

"...What's the problem?"

Commissioner Walker's face turned disgusted.

"Commissioner Gordan is the damn problem!" He exploded sourly. "He can't keep his freaks on a leash! Arkham Asylum has always been too close to this city for my comfort..."

Robin's eye slits had narrowed in intensity.

"Who?" He demanded. "Who escaped?"

**BOOM!**

The earth shook.

**BOOM!**

Again.

**BOOM!**

And again.

"What is it?" Superboy asked, hovering above them. "Earthquake?"

"No," Robin said grimly. "It's footsteps..."

Beast Boy looked down the street nervously.

"Ya know, dude..." He said. "If this guy's from Gotham, shouldn't he be, ya know...Batman's problem?"

The huge monstrosity came into view. Had Bard been asked to describe him, he would have said that he was a pro wrestler on steroids. The man was humongous, at least as big as Tim, and he walked with an absolute implacableness. Wires danced into his neck and a mask covered his head and face, revealing only his eyes and mouth.

"No," Robin answered Beast Boy, even as he stared at the villain with steely determination. "He's in my city, so he's _my_ problem."

"Um..." Bard scratched at the hair behind his cowboy hat. "Don't you mean '_our_' problem?"

But the Boy Wonder hadn't heard him.

"Yauuuuuugh!"

Robin ran forward, twirling his metal staff in a silver blur above his head. He leapt up, pivoted his hips and...

"!"

Bane reached out with more speed than a man that big had a right to and wrapped his huge hand around Robin's torso in midair, pinning his staff and arms to his side.

"The birdie.." He mused with a growl, staring maliciously at his helpless victim. "Just who Bane was looking for..."

"W-why?" Robin struggled futilely to escape his grasp.

"Your mentor has disrupted Bane too many times!" Bane roared, his eyes narrowing. "Bane cannot break Batman's body...So Bane crush Batman's heart instead!"

He squeezed.

"_Arrrrrghhhh!"_

**ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!**

The laser shots from Bard's pistol bounced harmlessly off the villain's body, and Bane looked slightly annoyed as if the beams of energy were nothing but bothersome mosquitoes. He locked eyes with the cowboy and started stomping towards him...

_# My little Tex-mmmph!#_

Bard's song was cut short when Bane grabbed him up, his fleshy hand covering his mouth.

"Bane does not like music..." He glared at his two victims.

**WHAM!**

Superboy zoomed up as a blur of red, blue and black and drove his left fist into Bane's unprotected face. The big man stumbled back and dropped Bard to the street.

**WHAM!**

Superboy hit him with his right fist. Bane stumbled back another step and reluctantly released Robin. The Boy of Steel reared back for a devastating uppercut...

Bane snatched him up with both hands, leapt up high in the air, spun and drove Superboy headfirst into the concrete street. Superboy was lost from sight in the huge crater.

"Yo! Eat this, big man!"

**WHUUUUUR!**

Cyborg descended from the sky in the talons of a green pterydactyl and lashed out with the blue beam of his sonic cannon. Bane covered himself up like a boxer to hold the beam at bay. Then, with a muffled grunt, he pushed the beam right back at them.

**RUUUUUUHW!**

The blast reversed its course and knocked Cyborg and Beast Boy out of the air.

"Digest this, as well!"

**ZAF! ZAF! ZAF!**

Starfire hovered about Bane's head and peppered him with star bolt after green star bolt. Bane covered up again and smoke begin to arise around his figure. Finally, Starfire stopped her torrential downpour of fiery green energy and panted for breath. Everyone cautiously stared at the cloud of smoke that hidden Bane from view.

"..."

"Haargh!" Bane's arm shot out of the smoke and grasped the Tamaraian.

"Eek!"

"Starfire!" Robin ran forward, leapt and planted a metal enlaced boot into Bane's chest. He bounced off, twirled around and jammed the butt of his staff deep into his stomach...and Bane simply stared at him with amusement, completely unfazed. He nonchalantly tossed Starfire into the side of a car and grabbed the Boy Wonder by his cape. His arm flexed and, with a sickening splat, slung Robin face first into the concrete. Robin groaned once, shuddered and then lay motionless.

"Children are no match for a weapon of mass destruction!" Bane lifted a giant boot to squash Robin like a bug...

**CRASH! SMACK!**

Superboy erupted from beneath the street, caught Bane's uplifted foot and flung him hard into the back of a pickup truck parked along the street.

"We're not kids!" He smirked. "We're teenagers!"

Bane growled and charged him.

_#My little Texas tornado, blowing me away again!#_

Bane's charge was halted when he suddenly found himself in a funnel of wind. He crashed through a lamp post and landed out of sight onto another street.

"Speak for yourself." Bard winked at Superboy from behind his dark glasses. "I'm eighteen, so I'm legally an adult."

"Wanna cookie?"

Meanwhile, Starfire had rushed over to Robin, who was still lying in the street.

"Robin, are you damaged?" She knelled down beside him, easily flipped him over and gently cradle his head.

"Ugh...I have to-" He coughed and a bit of blood came out of his mouth. Robin quickly wiped it away with the back of his glove. "I have to...stop Bane." He weakly started to make it to his feet.

"You stay where you are." Bard called over to the Boy Wonder with surprising authority. "We'll stop...Bane?"

Bane was back in sight, but it wasn't because he was charging them. No, it was because we was being catapulted through the air before he landed with crash into a store front.

"What the...?"

Another figure came into view, a famliar figure that was every bit as huge as Bane. He had shaggy brown hair, green eyes and a short red beard.

"Tim?" Bard stared in disbelief.

"Dude, this can't be good..."

"Jonny!" Tim roared, pointing at him. "You...are next!"

**WHAM!**

Everyone's eyes were on the scene between Bard and Tim, so no one noticed Bane get back to his feet. He came in charging like a bull and walloped Tim in the face with both hands. Bard's old friend went flying back from the blow and smashed through the side of a car. Bard ran forward to help, but Tim stopped him.

"No!" He yelled, holding up his hand after he made it back up. "Tim...owes you...owes Jonny. But then...your blood!"

Tim ran forward and grappled in a test of strength with Bane. The earth shook as their heavy footfalls as they struggled for position. Bane pushed Tim into a wall, making a crater and sending brick shrapnel and dust every where, but Tim refused to let go. Tim struck back with a knee below the belt.

"Well," Cyborg said as he and the rest of the Titans stood and watched the fight. "We all know where he learned that, don't we?"

Bane let out a below of rage, released his grip on Tim's shoulders and bent over. Tim grabbed him by the waist, lifted him up, flipped him and drove him back first into the middle of the road.

**CRACK!**

The impact was so intense that a large cracked wormed it's away though the road and all the way up an adjoining street. When his opponent made it back up to his feet, Tim through bear like swipe at him. But Bane ducked under and, from behind, wrapped his humongous arms around Tim's throat in a choke hold. Tim fought to free himself, but Bane was just too strong. His face turned red and his lungs screamed desperately for air.

Robin ran forward weakly, the tip of his staff dragging along the pavement...

**SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-CHINK!**

A black batarang came out of absolutely nowhere and imbedded itself into the electronic device on Bane's back. Electricity arced through Bane's body and into Tim's.

_"Arrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!"_

_"Yauuuuuuurgh!"_

Both men fell to the ground, smoking and unconscious.

"..." The Titans stared.

"No!" Robin shouted, roving his eyes over the rooftops. "I don't need your help! Do you hear me! I don't need _you!_"

Bard blinked and looked up at the rooftops, but no one was there.

"Robin..." Starfire said hesitantly. "Please restrain your distress. You are injured and-"

"No!" He barked harshly, coldly knocking away the hand she had reached out to touch him with. He determinedly staggered over to the R-Cycle, straddled the vehicle, clomped the helmet over his spiky hair and zoomed off.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...Hey! Where's Raven?"

_Author's Notes:_

_First and foremost, I have to apologize for how long it took this chapter to come out. I could come up with all kinds of valid excuses, but I won't bore you with them. Thanks to those who are sticking with me!_

_Also, the song Bard sang in the last chapter is not mine, (I forgot to put in the disclaimer)._

_Last but not least, review! Help me make Titan's Song as good as possible!_

_Strive For Righteousness,_

_Lord Belgarion_


	53. Living In Reality

_"And my reason to fight...was pain. But my pain is gone now." - Raven_

_**CHAPTER FIFTY THREE**_

_**LIVING IN REALITY**_

Bard was a ghost in a faceless crowd. He was invisible to everyone in the large dance hall. Unobserved, he watched a couple slow dance with faraway eyes. They spoke to each other, and even though he couldn't hear their words over the chattering of the guests around him, he knew exactly what was being said. The girl had pale skin, long dark hair and wore an elegant blue dress. The man was easy to recognize, with the cowboy hat, black boots and the dark brown western coat draped across his frame.

Bard turned slightly and saw Raven and Superboy. Superboy was dressed in a black tuxedo, and Raven was dressed in a silky white gown. Superboy was trying his best to get his sister to dance with him, but he was having no success. Bard allowed himself a small smile when, finally irritated, Raven zapped him away with her black telekinesis. Robin and Starfire were off to one side, smiling politely as _everyone_ congratulated them. Beast Boy was sitting at a table and the blonde girl, Terra, was laughing at his crazy antics. Tim was flexing with one arm to a group of ladies and used his other arm to sip at a, Bard was sure, an alcoholic drink...

_Why can't reality be like this?_

"Computer," Bard muttered. "Log out."

**ZHKKKKRIIIIT!**

Bard woke up inside a coffin-like pod. He slowly lifted the top and sat up.

"That's not going to help, you know." Bard started in surprise at Raven's voice. She sat at the computer console...

"You saw?"

Raven nodded.

"By seeing what a person truly wants...it says a lot about them."

"...What do _you_ want, Raven?"

"..."

"You know," Bard told her. "As soon as Robin...recollects himself, he's gonna want to know why you weren't there for the fight with Bane."

"Is he okay?"

"Yeah," Bard stood up out of the silver pod. "He took a hell of a lick, but he'll live." He paused and anxiously licked his lips. "Have you made a decision yet?"

Raven's slender hand unconsciously grasped the golden cross pendant around her neck.

"I...I don't know. The freedom it gives me...it's incredible. But..." Her lips pursed.

"But what?"

"I...don't want to leave the people of the city to fend for themselves."

"Why?"

Raven's eyebrow rose, a family trait.

"What I mean is," Bard explained himself. "Why would you want to keep being a Titan? Even without you, we, er, _they_ could still handle the city. And you-"

"I what?" She asked suspiciously.

"Well..." Bard scratched the back of his hair. "You're an atheist...so how can you worry about doing good things?"

"I don't think you understand." Raven told him. "I don't see the world as good and evil. I see the world in dimensions of pain. I know pain...more than any other person I've ever known. If I can keep someone else from feeling it, then _I_ feel as if I have accomplished something."

"So...you're, we're gonna stay then?"

"As I said, I don't know. I have to decide which is more important: The citizens' pain or my own." She looked helplessly at her brother. "What do you think I should do?"

"I...I can't answer that, Raven. I can't imagine how you feel." He paused sadly. "Besides," he added bitterly. "It's pretty obvious that I'm selfish in those kind of situations." He looked pointedly at the T-Trainer.

"You can't allow yourself to live in the past...no one can. We must face the reality we live in. But I believe you already know that." She looked away, her eyes thoughtful. "Did you know that I helped found the Teen Titans?"

Bard mutely shook his head and, though Raven wasn't looking at him, she somehow felt his answer.

"Along with Robin, I did. And I did it...but not because of justice..."

"Why, then?"

"Because...I wanted powerful people around me. People powerful enough to stop Trigon if he was ever able to take over my body. I know better than that now, but at the time, it was the best solution I could find. But when we started fighting crime...I had to find a reason for it. A reason to fight. If you don't have one, you will eventually break down...or get killed. All the others have one. Starfire fights for her love of Robin, you fight for your faith and the other have reasons of their own."

Bard blinked. He had come to that exact same conclusion not long after joining the Titans.

"And I had to find my reason." Raven continued. "And my reason to fight...was pain. But my pain is gone now."

Silence fell between them.

"I still have to think about this." Raven said finally. "I'll let you know of my decision before the day's over." She walked towards the door, but she stopped halfway. "This is the world you have to live in, Bard. That program...that place you went to...is even more of a fantasy than your god."

And then she left him alone.

**DaRealSuperboy22: **Sup babe.

**TTFanGirl343: **Are you really Superboy? _The_ Superboy?

**DaRealSuperboy22: **Course I am girl...hold one one sec.

**TTFanGirl343: **hehehehe. ok.

Superboy sat in front of the computer in his room. An envelope appeared in the mailbox icon and he put his hand on the mouse, scrolled over and clicked on it.

**SUBJECT:** _Your origins..._

**FROM:** _UnknownSender_

Frowning, Superboy opened it up, ignoring the bell like sound of TTFanGirl343 messaging him.

_This is not a prank, Kon-El. I assure you that what I have put here is the truth. I may not disclose my name to you, in fear of my own life. I was a scientist in the experiment that created you and I am closely watched._

Superboy took off his red shades, his eyes wide, and stared more intently at the screen.

_I know of Project Cadmus; the project that created you. Westfield was searching for a way to clone Superman after his death...but he was unsuccessful. Finally, he created you using human and Kryptonian DNA; fifty percent alien and fifty percent human. It is public knowledge that your Kryptonian DNA came from Superman...but have you ever wondered who provided the human DNA?_

Superboy's chest clenched and a chill went through him.

_I have known this information for years, but I believed the truth would be better off buried. But the man whom donated the DNA now knows, and I believe you should as well. Your human from Lex Luthor._

A pair of red mirrored sunglasses fell to the floor, bounced and lay there meekly.

"Haugh!"

**WHAM!**

"Kyaugh!"

**WHAP!**

_"Raugh!"_

**BAM!**

Robin was in the training room, beating the punching bag to death to relieve his frustrations. His cape lay forgotten on the floor, he was covered from head to toe with sweat and his black bangs stabbed at his eye mask.

"M-may I speak now, Robin?" Starfire asked, sitting on a weight bench not far away. She had tried to reach Robin before, but each time he had rebutted her sharply. But with inhuman patience, Starfire had waited.

"..." Robin bent over, put his hands on his knees and panted.

"You must not punish your body thus." She told him. "You are hurt, and if you push your body to exert too much energy, it is very possible for you-"

"I know what I'm doing." Robin said quickly between ragged gasps.

"..."

"..."

"Why are you distraught?" Starfire asked him. "Both Bane and Tim were captured..."

Robin looked away.

"You wouldn't understand." He muttered.

"Will you not give me a chance to?"

Robin's lips pursed at he looked at her.

"This...is told in the strictest confidence." He told her. "Do you understand?"

Starfire nodded, her emerald eyes wide and soft. Waiting.

"Back in Gotham City," he started. "I used to fight crime with Batman...As I'm sure you already know. But have you ever wondered why I left to come here and form the Titans?"

"I...have never thought about it."

"There's a villain...called the Joker." Robin explained. "One of the deadliest criminals in the world. We dropped in on him one night to stop his latest plot..."

"And?"

"And...I was shot."

If was possible, Starfire's eyes widened even more.

"In the shoulder. Painful to be sure, but not life threatening. But..." He paused. "I think it scared Batman. He told me that being a super hero was too dangerous and ordered me to quit..."

"But you did not."

"No, I came here instead and, well, the rest is history." Robin looked away. "The point is...I've always lived in his shadow; in the shadow of the bat. But after fighting alongside you and the rest of the Titans...I finally felt as if I was my own man. But today, when he interfered..."

"It made you feel helpless." Starfire guessed.

Robin looked at her sharply. She had unexpectedly struck at the heart of the matter. The one thing, above all else, that the Boy Wonder hated...was feeling helpless.

"I-"

**SWOOSH!**

"Robin, I-" Superboy paused and looked more closely at him. "Man, you look like crap."

"..."

"..."

"Anyway," Superboy went on. "I need your help. It's important."

"What is it...?"

"Dude!" Beast Boy nearly assaulted Bard when he first entered the room, obviously hiding something behind his back. "You have _got_ to check out what we got in the mail!"

The cowboy's face immediately turned wary. His experience with mail, at least in Titans Tower, had yet to be good.

"What is it?"

The scene seemed to change as Cyborg zipped beside the changeling to a commercial set.

"Once in every lifetime..." Cyborg started, his voice deep and significant. "There comes a video game sequel that lives in infamy as the greatest sequel of all time..."

"And that game is..." Beast Boy took over, trying to make his squeaky voice every bit as dramatic as Cyborg's.

"Super hero Smackdown II!" They yelled out together.

"Yeah, man!" Cyborg said, reality setting back in as Beast Boy waved the game case in Bard's face. "And guess who's in it?"

Bard looked at him blankly.

"Dude, it's you, man! Your video game debut!"

In a flash, Cyborg and Beast Boy picked up Bard, flung him onto the couch and put the game into the system Bard blinked as he found he was sitting on the couch between the two Titans with a controller in his hands.

"Who should he play against?" Cyborg was asking. "You or me?"

"Uh..." Bard looked at them. "I'm not that good at video games, and I'd like to get _one_ hit in, at least..."

"..."

"..."

"He'll play the computer." They decided together.

"All right, Bard." Beast Boy said, watching the screen. "Press start."

Bard did that.

"Now scroll down to 'match'." Cyborg told him.

Bard did that.

"Now hit 'single', 'easy', 'beginner', and 'character select'."

Bard hurriedly did that, ticking them off in his head.

"This sure is complicated..."

"Now pick your guy." Beast Boy said.

Bard stared at the screen that held the pictures of dozens and dozens of superheroes...he hadn't know there were that many...

"There you are!" Cyborg pointed at the tiny picture of a long haired guy in a black cowboy hat.

After Bard had put the cursor on himself, he scanned the screen for an opponent. He quickly crossed out the more famous heroes. He _definitely_ did not want to fight Superman or Batman. For a moment he put the cursor over a dark haired, shades wearing swordsman, but then he changed his mind.

"Who's someone easy to play against?" Bard asked.

"Um..." Beast Boy and Cyborg looked at each other.

"I dunno." Cyborg shrugged his metal shoulders. "Just pick a girl."

The cowboy picked one at random...Huntress.

"So...how do I play?" Bard asked hesitantly as the match loaded...and immediately regretted it.

"To do you hyper special you press up, up, then the trigger-"

"You block by holding back and away from your opponent, plus triangle and the c-pad-"

"To do your projectile attack-"

"To do a throw-"

"All right!" Bard said a little louder then he meant to.

Cyborg and Beast Boy blinked at him.

The cowboy sweat dropped.

"I'll...uh, just learn as I go."

The match screen came up, and Bard admitted to himself that this pixel counterpart looked quite a bit like the original: Everything from the cross-adorned trench coat to the cowboy boots to the long, brown hair flooding out from beneath a black cowboy hat. His opponent was a masked woman in her twenties with a black and purple costume.

"_You_ are now the prey..." Huntress said, turning a pose.

"If you've never talked to God." Bard's voice actor replied as his character turned with a dramatic turn of his trench coat. "Now's the time to do it!"

Bard simpered at the screen.

_"Fight!"_ A digital voice commanded.

The girl, Huntress, started out by throwing three throwing knives at him, but he leapt over them and, while in midair, retaliated with a blast from his laser pistol.

"Hey!" Beast Boy applauded him. "Not bad! Especially for a dude with one hand!" The changeling paused. "Dude, where's your cross thingy?"

"..."

Though Bard had a tough time, he held his own. Finally, he was able to end the match with his hyper special. His counterpart brought out a guitar from out of nowhere, played a chord, and a fireball in the shape of a cross took the Huntress down for the count. Bard leapt to the middle of the screen with his guitar in tow.

"I just took you to the woodshed!"

Bard stared at the screen while Cyborg and Beast Boy looked at him expectantly.

"..."

"..."

"..This game..."

"..."

"..."

"...ROCKS!"

Beast Boy and Cyborg cheered.

As the cowboy sat between his two grinning friends...he found himself smiling as well.

_Maybe reality isn't so bad, after all..._

"Right here, man!" Superboy pointed at the computer screen in his room after practically forcing Robin to sit down. "This is it!"

Robin clicked open the email and scanned it quickly.

"It's possible that he's lying, Superboy." The Boy Wonder pointed out.

"No way!" Superboy shook his head adamantly. "How else would he know that Kon-El is my Kryptonian name?"

Robin blinked at him from behind his eye mask.

"Why would the scientists give you a Kryptonian name?"

"They didn't!" Superboy told him. "Superman did! But what does that have to do-"

He froze as that dawned on him.

"How...how would he know that?" The Boy of Steel asked.

"I don't know." Robin replied. "But I promise you: We _will_ find out."

Suddenly, another mail graphic filled up the mailbox icon.

_"You've Got Mail!"_

Hesitantly, Robin scrolled over and opened it up.

**SUBJECT: **_Contact_

**FROM: **_UnknownSender_

_Lex Luthor's plans have leaked, Kon-El. I believe we should meet to prepare for his campaign against you. Come to Metropolis, Central Park. I'll find you._

Both teens stared at the screen in consternation.

Bard, Cyborg and Beast Boy all sat on the couch, mashing the buttons on their controllers in a three way, super hero free for all. Bard had his balanced on his knee so that the fingers of his functioning hand could dance across the buttons. Beast Boy had won two matches, Cyborg four and Bard zero.

"No fair!" The cowboy objected. "You double teamed me!"

"Hey!" Cyborg grinned. "It was _you_ who got between my sonic cannon and a giant green gorilla!"

Bard muttered about that under his breath...

"Bard,"

He turned and saw Raven standing in the doorway.

"Hold on a second." He told her. "Let me finish this match-"

"I've made my decision."

**CLANK!**

The cowboy's controller hit the floor.

"Hey, man!" Cyborg told him. "Easy with the joystick!"

"Dude, that's bad manners!" Beast Boy joined in. "You can't just leave in the middle of a game!"

"Be right back!" Bard threw over his shoulder at them as he walked out into the hallway with Raven.

When they were alone...

"...Well?" He prodded her gently.

"I've decided-"

**SWOOSH!**

Superboy was suddenly between them.

"Team meeting!" He announced.

**SWOOSH!**

He was gone as quickly as he had appeared. Both sibling blinked, but then Raven started again.

"I've decided-"

**SWOOSH!**

"Now!"

**SWOOSH!**

A pair of sweat drops hit the floor.

"I've decided-" Raven paused and glared down the hall Superboy had zoomed down, almost daring him to interrupt her again. "I've decided...to stay with the Titans."

"Then I guess we won't be going anywhere, after all." Bard smiled at her.

The dark sorceress looked closely at her brother.

"You're relieved, aren't you?"

"Well...yeah." He scratched at the back of his hair. "When I found my powers...I figured God wanted me to help people, so..."

Raven's eyes turned soft.

"You mean...if I had decided to quit the Titans...you would have defied your god and come with me?"

Bard's face grew pained.

"'Defied' is such an ugly word..."

"You're avoiding the question." She said it bluntly.

"I sin enough as it is." He shrugged. "I'm sure God would have forgiven one more."

Raven smiled.

But that smile faded away as she put her hands on the cross pendant around her neck. She went to take it off...but she stopped herself.

"What?" Bard wanted to know.

"I just wanted to do something first."

Without any warning at all, Raven leapt forward and caught him in a crushing hug. When she finally drew away from him:

"At least now," she said lightly. "I can zap Superboy again."

Neither of them laughed.

Sighing, Raven took off the pendant and gave it to Bard. New life went into the Bard's arm...just as the ice wall fell down between them again.

"..."

"..."

"Don't you have a game to play?" Raven droned.

"Y-yeah..."

But Raven was already walking away, the silence broken only by the staccato of her measured steps hitting the floor.

Bard sighed as he looked after her.

"I'm gonna miss you..." He whispered to the empty air.


	54. Taken

_"My daddy's gonna kick you ass." - Holly_

_**CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR**_

_**TAKEN**_

Later that evening, the kitchen table became an impromptu conference table as the Titans gathered around it for a team meeting.

"We have two things hanging over our heads." Robin was saying to them, standing at the head of the table. "First, the attack on the T-Trainer by Overload, and the other is an email Superboy received today."

"But we already trashed Overload." Cyborg objected.

"Yeah," Beast Boy agreed with his friend. "And what's so dangerous about a little email, anyway? Is it a virus, or somethin'?"

Robin calmly held up a gloved hand to signal for silence.

"True, Overload is in police custody now...but have any of you thought about _why_ he chose to attack the T-Trainer?"

"He needed to replenish his electrical energy?" Starfire said.

"Maybe," the Boy Wonder's voice was doubtful. "But why attack here at Titans Tower? Surely there were other electronics that were safer and less risky to get to."

"Whatcha gettin' at, dawg?"

"What I'm saying, Cyborg, is that I believe Overload attacking here had another motive besides refilling his energy reserves."

"But what other motive could this Overload fella have?" Bard wanted to know.

"Not Overload." Raven told him, her tone emotionless. "Slade."

"Right," Robin nodded at her. "Overload's worked for Slade before, so it wouldn't be anything new. I think he sent him here to distract us."

"Maybe he sent Bane here, too?" Bard theorized.

Robin thought about it.

"No," he said then. "I think him being in our city was just a coincidence that simply played into Slade's hands. No one really has the power to order Bane around."

"But what would Slade wish to distract us from?" Starfire asked.

"I don't know." Robin answered her gravely. "And that's what has me worried."

"All right, that explains why we had to talk about the Overload thingy." Beast Boy pointed out. "But what's so important about Superboy's email?"

"My human DNA comes from Lex Luthor!" Superboy burst out uncharacteristically, his calm and cool attitude missing. "That important enough for ya?"

Beast Boy winced, but Bard was looking at him curiously.

"Why would that be so important?" The cowboy asked obliviously. "I mean, he's just some rich CEO, right?"

Everyone stared at him as if had grown a third head.

"...I think I'm missing something here."

"Lex Luthor is one of the biggest crime bosses in the country...and is easily the best funded." Robin explained to him. "He's just very good at hiding his tracks."

"...Oh,"

Robin turned to Superboy.

"And we don't know if that's true yet, Superboy. Let's not make assumptions about your DNA until we have all of the facts, all right?"

"...Fine," he finally agreed sourly.

"This mysterious informant wants to meet Superboy in Metropolis." Robin went on to the rest of the team. "But at the same time, I think Slade's up to something and I want as many people here as possible."

"I'll just go alone." Superboy shrugged.

"No," Robin disagreed. "I know you can take care of yourself, Superboy, but I'd feel better if there was someone there to watch your back."

"Why not send the other newbie with him?" Beast Boy grinned impishly.

"Good idea, Beast Boy."

Both Bard and Superboy groaned, almost in unison.

"What are you bringing that thing for?" Superboy demanded as Bard put his guitar, along with a few extra clothes, in the trunk of the T-Car the next morning.

"With all that's been going on, I haven't had much time to work on my music." Bard replied nonchalantly, closing the trunk with a muted 'thunk'.

"All right," Superboy grumbled. "But I'm driving this time!"

"I thought we already covered this." Bard told him. "You don't have a licence, so _I_ drive."

Superboy muttered about that under his breath and the cowboy looked at him with a curiously raised eyebrow.

_That was __**too**__ easy..._

"What's put you in such a bad mood?" He asked him.

"What'dya think?" Superboy sighed in frustration. "Let's just go, all right, man?"

Bard looked at him for a moment longer, but then he nodded and the two of them piled into the T-Car.

Once on the road, he looked over at the Boy of Steel. He was slumped over in the seat with his leather jacketed arms fold disconsolately over his chest.

"So..." Bard said hesitantly, keeping one eye on the road and the other on his partner. "Wanna talk about it?"

"Just leave me alone, man." Superboy rebutted him. "I don't need you playing shrink."

"Let me say one more thing, and then I'll shut up. Deal?"

"..."

"I'll take that as a 'yes." Bard took a deep breath. "Y'know, I have a father I don't like, too...so I know what it feels like-"

Superboy reached his arm out purposely and turned on the radio. Rap music poured out of the speakers, but Bard barely noticed it. The Superboy he knew was cool, calm, confident and cocky...everything the teen sitting next to him now was not.

He sighed.

In the main room of Titans Tower, Robin stood before the window watching the T-Car disappear into the mainland.

"Are you sure it's wise to put them together like that?" Raven asked from behind him. "They're complete opposites."

"It'll work out." Robin said confidently. "Superboy has the experience and Bard has the common sense. Plus, with the five original members here, we'll be more prepared to work together if something happens."

"Old school!" Beast Boy yelled over from where he was playing video games on the couch.

Raven ignored the changeling and simply nodded before drifting away.

"Yo, Robin!" Cyborg called over to him. "Walker wants to talk to ya!"

Robin took one more moment to gaze out the window before turning and walking over to the screen.

"What can I do for you today, Commissioner?"

"Stop being so damn polite!" Walker told him sourly, though his eyes looked a bit wounded. "Whenever I call, you need to answer by saying 'What the hell is wrong, Commissioner?' Got it?"

"...Ahem. What's wrong, Commissioner?"

Commissioner Walker was actually silent for a moment, his far away eyes illuminated briefly as he lit up a cigarette.

"There's been a kidnaping." He exhaled smoke. "Your buddy Slade and that Brother Blood goon sent me a ransom note early this morning."

"Slade and Brother Blood are working together..." Robin mused quietly to himself, then he looked back up at the screen. "But why would they send it to you?"

"Because they kidnaped my daughter, you jackass!" Walker snapped vehemently. "Who else would he send it to? Barney the -ing dinosaur?"

Static streamed across the screen just in time to mask the Commissioner's graphic language.

"..."

The Commissioner took a few deep breaths.

"I don't know how those goons did it." He said, his tone much quieter, somewhere between apologetic and self-berating. "I was in Vietnam for two tours. I practically sleep with my eyes open and I wake up if so much as a mouse farts. But somehow...they got into my house...and took my baby...and I was asleep the whole damn time! They took right out from under my nose!"

Robin said nothing, slightly surprised at the emotion Walker was showing. The Commissioner cleared his throat.

"They made a weird ass demand, too." He added, a bit of his gruff strength coming back into his voice.

"What do they want, sir?"

"Don't call me 'sir'!" He snapped almost automatically before answering. "That necklace Bard wears...they want it. I don't know why the hell they'd want it, and I really don't give a flying damn. I'm usually pretty hard assed against negotiating with terrorists...but they have me by the balls."

"Commissioner, I don't believe you realize the significance of that necklace."

"It makes the cowboy's arm work, right?" Walker paused. "Where the hell is he, anyway?"

"Right now, he's heading for Metropolis with Superboy to-"

"The hell he is!" Walker half screamed, his face going red. "Bring his ass back!"

"But-"

"Now, damn it! Do it!"

And the screen went black.

Finally, Bard couldn't take it anymore. He had heard more 'hoes' and 'pimps' and 'beeps' than his country soul could take. He reached out and flipped off the radio, which had been playing rap music for the last fifteen minutes. He looked over at Superboy, expecting him to object or say _something_, but the Boy of Steel simply slumped over in the passenger seat and watched the world pass by outside his window.

With a stylized beep, the LCD screen in the dash lit up to show Robin's face.

_"Bard,_" he said without any preamble. _"We need you back at the Tower. And Superboy-"_

"I'm going to Metropolis." Superboy cut off him preemptively.

Robin nodded in understanding.

_"Check in with us from time to time. Bard, you come back here. Robin out."_

Bard pulled the T-Car to a stop over to the side of the road. Superboy opened the door and stepped out.

"Superboy,"

The teen stopped and stuck his head back into the car.

"Be careful," the cowboy told him.

Superboy nodded silently and closed the door. He grabbed a knapsack out of the trunk, threw it over his shoulder and-

**SWOOSH!**

Bard watched the blue, red and black streak that was the Boy of Steel disappear over the horizon before making a U-turn and heading back the way he came.

Slade stepped quietly into the dark room, lighted only slightly by the lone yellow bulb hanging from the ceiling.

"Miss Walker...It's nice to finally meet you." He purred. "You've been well, I trust?"

The teenage red head tied to the chair underneath the halo of light looked at him with frightened, little girl eyes...just before she spat on him.

"Eat shit, bastard! And the name's Holly, punk!"

Slade absently wiped the saliva off his chest with a gloved hand.

"You're as spirited as your father...Holly...and just as eloquent." He told her as she glared at him with hard, dark green eyes. "I will not hurt you...as long as you cooperate. Once Walker gets me what I want, I'll release you. You'll have an extra hour to live, perhaps...if you're lucky."

"What do you want?" Holly demanded.

"Hell on earth, my dear. Hell on earth." Slade strode over, leaned down face to face with her and reached out to grasp her chin. "Now behave...unless you want me to show you Hell before it gets here."

"You can't kill me." Holly said it defiantly. "Not if you want the ransom."

"Dear child...who said anything about killing you?"

Though she tried not to show it with a disguise of hate and defiance, a chill went down Holly's spine.

"I see we understand each other." Slade gazed at her with his single eye for a moment before turning and leaving her alone.

"My daddy's gonna kick you ass." Holly whispered between clenched teeth.

Bard was driving the T-Car across the main bridge, painful memories of the bombing coming back to him as he noticed construction workers fixing a brace...when she appeared.

**ZHHHHHTTT!**

To Bard's shock, Zillah appeared in the passenger seat.

"Greeting's Holy Bard." She said sweetly. "Did you miss me?"

And then she kicked him in the face.

**SMACK!**

Bard lost his grip on the steering wheel and the car turned out of control. It crashed through the barricade and swan dived towards the water below.

**ZHHHHHHT!**

Bard found himself twenty feet over the water just as the T-Car crashed into the waves. Quickly, he hummed the wind song to keep himself aloft.

_Zillah...had saved him?_

**ZHHHHT!**

The girl reappeared, clutching him around the neck from behind.

"No," she answered his unspoken question. "I simply dislike the idea of getting wet to take your cross pendant off your dead body."

Struggling, Bard reached behind his head and grasped her purple robe. With a mighty heave, he flung her over his head down towards the water. But just before impact...

**ZHHHHT!**

She disappeared.

Bard turned this way and that on his invisible platform of wind, but he didn't see her anywhere...

**ZHHHT!**

"Haugh!"

Bard was kicked hard in the back. He was pushed down a few feet, but he managed to stay out of the water. He looked around, but Zillah was nowhere to be found.

**ZHHHHT!**

Her foot caught him right in the chin before she disappeared again. Growling, Bard hummed and rested a fireball in the palm of his hand.

**ZHHHT-BOOM!**

Bard caught her reappearing form dead in the chest with his fireball. He caught her smoking, unconscious form by the back of her robe and flew off toward Titans Tower...but something was bothering him. And it wasn't the fact that his guitar was in the trunk of the T-Car...sitting at the bottom of the inlet.

**SWOOSH!**

Superboy came to a stop in Central Park, near the heart of the city of Metropolis. From behind his red mirrored shades, he scanned the area. There were your usual citizens out: An elderly couple sitting on a park bench feeding birds, a man playing frisbee with his dog and a collection of young, teenage girls sitting on a blanket that Superboy, uncharacteristically, barely glanced at...but no one in the park was out of the ordinary.

Superboy had changed clothes outside the city. He wore black sneakers, dark blue jeans and a plain, long sleeved black t-shirt beneath his shades. Now wasn't the time to be socializing with any fans, so his costume had had to go.

His eyes narrowed behind his glasses as he felt the earth rumble beneath his feet.

_What the-?_

**CR-CR-CRASH!**

Superboy watched the shaggy haired, golden retriver leap for a frisbee...and be blown ten yards away as something erupted from beneath the earth. Silver, humanoid robots rose from the earth like zombies. Ignoring the screams of fleeing pedestrians, their mechanical eyes locked onto Superboy. The Boy of Steel took off his shades and cracked his knuckles...

**SWOOSH-CRACK!**

Superboy planted his fist in the metal chest of the first robot, denting it and leaving an impression of his fist. The robot was flung back like it had been shot out of a cannon. Another leapt at him, but the superpowered teen caught him and drove him so hard into the ground that it left a crater in the grassy turf. He blew a hole through another one with his newly found heat vision, and the last robot's head was punched off of his body.

Superboy panted slightly as he looked around at the scrap heap that had once been his attackers.

**WHHHHHAM!**

Superboy went flying back from an impact with scary velocity, smashing through a tree and exploding it into splinters. The Boy of Steel wearily pushed the debris off himself and looked up at his attacker...

And it was like looking into a mirror.

"My baby's _where?_" Cyborg exploded...for the fifth time.

"Enough," Robin told him. "We can go get it later."

"But my baby-"

"We have more important things going on right now, Cyborg."

The big robot looked as if he might object again, but then he reluctantly nodded in agreement.

"So," Robin turned to Bard and pointed at the girl through the glass. "She just attacked you?"

"Yeah," Bard told him. "One minute I was driving back here, and the next I was getting kicked in the face with a platform shoe!"

Robin's eyes narrowed.

"But she's not wearing platform shoes..."

"Well...I got kicked, anyway, regardless of what she's wearing."

The three boys looked through the glass where Zillah was slumped over in the corner of the room.

"Are you sure she won't be able to teleport out of there?" Robin asked the cowboy.

"I reckon she can't." He replied. "The way I understand it, she just doesn't disappear and reappear when she teleports. She's somehow able to break her body down into little tiny pieces-"

"Atoms," Cyborg supplied.

Bard shrugged.

"I reckon," he agreed. "Anyway, she travels by projecting the tiny little, er, atoms, that make up her substance, so she looks like she's invisible. If that room is as air tight as you say it is, she shouldn't be able to zap herself out."

"So, she and Brother Blood are working for Slade now..." Robin thought out loud.

"Not to mention we still have Jinx and Kitten to worry about." Cyborg added. "Who'd have thought ya'll's girlfriend would become so vicious?"

Both Robin and Bard glared at him, but the robot acted as if he didn't notice.

"I think we have one thing wrong, though." Bard said after a moment. "Brother Blood's not the type to be working for someone besides himself, so-"

"So he and Slade must have the same agenda." Robin finished. "Bringing Trigon to earth."

"I can't believe anyone would want to do that." Cyborg voiced. "No matter how evil they are..."

There was silent agreement.

"Something else has been bothering me, though." Bard told them. "Zillah...she zapped an entire army from here, right?"

"Yeah," Cyborg confirmed. "That girls gotta be one of the strongest metahumans in the country."

"Well, what I'm getting at is...if she wants my cross pendant so badly...why would she attack me directly instead of just zapping it off me?"

Robin rubbed his chin.

"We all know that necklace of yours has some kind of...power." He said. "Maybe her powers wouldn't work on it?"

Bard shook his head.

"She zapped the sucker down in the caves...more than once."

"Maybe she just wanted some personal revenge on you." Cyborg suggested.

"Maybe," Bard said dubiously. "Or maybe..." His voice trailed off.

"Or maybe what?"

"Robin," Bard ignored the question. "Is there anyway we can wake her up?"

"I've got some smelling salts." Robin answered, unconsciously bringing his gloved hand down to his utility belt. "They could wake up a dead stick. I'm sure they'll work on her."

"Why do you want to wake her up for, dawg?"

"Why else?" Bard said. "I want to talk to her."


	55. Understanding

"_Stop that! Sheesh! You're more irritating than Bard...and that's saying a lot!" - Superboy_

_**CHAPTER FIFTY FIVE**_

_**UNDERSTANDING**_

Superboy, lying in the green turf of the abandoned Central Park in Metropolis with the debris of an oak tree covering him, looked up at his assailant with shocked blue eyes.

"I know I'm handsome." His attacker said with an evil smirk, lowering his red shades to gaze down at him with matching blue. "But that doesn't mean you have to stare, man."

Superboy stood up, his eyes still wide.

"Y-you-" he stuttered.

"I am Kon-El." The black haired man said. "It's like looking into a mirror, huh?"

_No kidding..._

"Unfortunately, this planet only has room for _one_ person who looks this good." Without warning, the doppleganger streaked at him. They tangled and rolled thirty yards away, peeling away the green hair of the earth as they went. Finally, Superboy pushed him off with a superhuman thrust of his legs, sending his clone up in the air.

**SWOOSH!**

Superboy flew up after him, laced his fingers together into one huge fist and smashed him back down to the earth.

**CRASH!**

Kon-El stood up out of the crater with dust billowing dramatically around his figure. His leather jacket was speckled with dirt.

"I am superior, Superboy!" He yelled up at him. "You cannot-" He paused suddenly and brought a hand up to his ear. "But-" He stopped and listened some more. "V-very well..."

"Who are you talking to?" Superboy demanded to know.

But Kon-El merely smirked at him again.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

**SWOOSH!**

Superboy blurred down at him, reared back his fist and...bounced off Kon-El's chest.

"Ooof!"

The Boy of Steel fell to the ground, but only...he wasn't the Boy of Steel anymore. There was an ugly, purple bruise on his cheek and blood leaked from the outside corner of his eyebrow...and Kon-El stood over him, holding a glowing green rock.

"Kryptonite!" Superboy gasped.

"That's right. This stuff makes you as weak as a normal fifteen year old boy...and doesn't effect me at all!" His eyes softened a bit. "I'm sorry, man, but there can only be one 'Superboy'."

Kon-El reared back his fist...

**SWWWW-CLUNK!**

A yellow arrow came out of nowhere and shot the meteor rock out of his hand.

"Sorry!" An orange haired, eye mask wearing hero called out through a grin. "I thought it was an apple!"

_"You took too long!"_ A voice said through the communication device in Kon-El's ear. _"Get out of there before anyone else sees you!"_

"But-"

_"NOW!"_

Kon-El's face turned sour before he turned back to Superboy.

"This isn't over yet." He promised.

**SWOOSH!**

And he streaked away.

Bard slowly stepped into the padded, cell-like room where they had put Zillah. He glanced at the mirror to one side, but he knew that Robin and Cyborg were behind it, watching his every move. He nodded gravely at it once before cradling the mystic's head and holding the smelling salts to her face. The girl coughed and dazedly blinked opened her eyes.

"Jonny?"

This time, it was Bard's turn to blink. _That_ had certainly taken him by surprise... Zillah's eyes focused.

"What did you do to me?" She demanded sharply, quickly covering herself up with her robe.

Bard's face was slightly shocked at he stepped back and unconsciously raised his hands.

"I...didn't do anything to you." He told her. The mystic seemed to regain her composure.

"Y-yes, I believe you. I know you wouldn't."

Bard searched her face.

"What...what are you doing with your life, Zillah?"

A sharp retort sprang to her lips...but then she seemed to collapse into herself.

"I-I don't know anymore." She replied quietly instead, her breathing slow and steady. "When I was accepted into Neo-Zandia - the caves - I needed something to trust in so badly. So I accepted Sebastion's religion without question."

"You weren't born in the caves?" Bard's face was surprised, but it was caused more by the fact that Zillah was opening up to him instead of the current revelation.

"No," she shook her head. "I told you that once before, did I not?" She sighed. "I...I accepted Trigon. Evil seemed so powerful to me, so unstoppable...that it only made sense to join the winning side. But..."

Bard reached out and gently took her hand.

"But what?"

Zillah looked down at their joined hands and then back up to his face.

"But something happened...on the night Neo Zandia collapsed in on itself. I was able to save Sebastion and myself, but I'd used my powers so much that day that I couldn't really control them and we were separated. I was alone when I reappeared outside, and exhausted. I-I blacked out."

Bard sat beside her, listening patiently.

"And I had a dream." Zillah continued. "B-but it was more like...a vision. A voice spoke to me; a voice full of love and power..."

"What did he say?" Bard prodded gently.

"It was a woman's voice."

"...Oh," Bard cleared his throat. "What did _she_ say?"

"Just the truth. She told me that an evil was coming...and that it had to be stopped."

"Trigon?"

Zillah nodded.

"I don't know if it was some outside force or just my conscious getting through to me but..." She swallowed. "And so I went after the only weapon I could think of to use against him..."

"This," Bard put a hand to his necklace, but then his eyebrow raised. "But...why didn't you just zap it off me?"

"I...I felt I owed you more than that. I wanted to explain myself to you."

Bard's eyebrow raised even higher.

"Your explanations are painful..."

"When I found you...I couldn't. I didn't think you'd listen to me. So, I did it the other way."

Bard looked hard at Zillah, absorbing every feature and minute emotion on her delicate little face. The mystic girl, more than anyone he had ever met, had so many faces; so many disguises and facades she hid behind. It was hard to believe that he was really seeing her true face now. But he was. The disguises had been ripped away, and what was left was a young girl who was confused, hurt and, most of all, dreadfully alone.

"...I'm sorry." He said to her then.

Zillah's eyes widened.

"For what?"

"Just...I'm sorry."

Zillah stared...and she leaned forward with teary eyes and hugged him. Even as he felt the warm water penetrate his shirt and reached his arms forward to return her hug...he was reminded of the day in the alley, where their positions had been reversed. And though the words might have been spoken in disguise...they rang with truth. And Bard knew, without a shadow of a doubt...That it had been the true Zillah that had comforted him that day.

"For the fifth million time: I did not need your help, Arrow!" Superboy spouted, waving his arms emphatically.

"The name's Speedy." The orange-haired hero replied. "And I think you've been hanging out with Robin too long."

Superboy looked at him funny.

"How do you know-?"

"You're part of the Titans, right?" Speedy asked. "The Titans and I go way back. As a matter of fact, I was just on my way over to Jump City to drop in on them...until I stopped to save you."

Superboy's face turned red.

"So..." Speedy mused, ignoring that. "You've got a clone, huh? You must be flattered."

"Stop that!" Superboy snapped peevishly. "Sheesh! You're more irritating than Bard...and that's saying a lot!"

"Bard?" Speedy asked, but then understanding showed on his face. "Oh, right. The new guy. The cowboy. I look forward to meeting him."

"Well go ahead." Superboy told him. "I hope you irritate him at much as you irritate me! But right now, I've got a clone to pummel..."

"How are you gonna pummel him when he can make your powers go out the window?" Speedy asked.

"..."

"Face it, man: You need my help."

Superboy stared at him for at him for a minute...and then he turned and walked away, muttering angrily to himself. Smiling, the archer followed.

"So," Speedy started. "You know who made the clone?"

Superboy looked at him, but said nothing.

"Okay," Speedy mused as they walked further into the park, his mind going to 'detective mode'. "What do we want to know...? We want to know who made your clone. Our culprit is a master of science with adequate financial funds and a way to cover up what he's doing...or someone rich enough to afford all of the above. And this someone would also have possession of Kryptonite...Who do we know in Metropolis that fits that bill?"

"You tell me, Sherlock."

"Hmm, Braniac come to mind." Speedy frowned as he thought. "But he's so focused in on Superman that he probably doesn't know you exist..."

"Stop wasting your time playing detective." Superboy finally told him. "I already know who it is."

Speedy blinked behind his eye mask.

"Who?"

Superboy grinned, the first genuine smile he'd had since receiving the ominous email.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

**SWOOSH!**

And Speedy was left alone in the park. But he was smiling, too. He reached into his utility belt and pulled out a device...a device that was tracking down a blip that was traveling north at an incredible speed.

Holly continued to pick at the bonds holding her hands together with her fingernails. Sweat beaded under her crown of short, shoulder length red hair as she worked.

"Ugh...almost got it...almost got it...Hell Yeah!"

She was free!

She bent over to work on the ropes holding her feet...when the door opened. Quick as a flash, she leaned back and held her arms behind the chair as if they were still tied.

Brother Blood came into the room, his crimson cape floating behind him.

"What are you yelling about, girl?"

Holly thought fast.

"I want someone..._to get me the hell out of here!_"

"Little girl, you're not going anywhere until I get what I want." Brother Blood told her, staring at her with red eyes. "And I suggest you don't speak of hell so trivially...not until you've seen it."

"What is _with_ you sickos?" She demanded. "You don't talk about anything but frickin' hell!"

"You'll know why soon enough." And he turned and left her alone again.

Holly waited a moment to make sure he was gone, then she bent over and started working on the bonds tied to her feet again.

"The hell with daddy." She muttered to herself as she worked. "I'll take care of this my damned self."

After Zillah had finished her crying spell, Bard had left her alone and come back into the small antechamber to find that Raven, Beast Boy and Starfire had joined Cyborg and Robin in surveillance.

"Dude, that was better than those soap operas on TV!" The green changeling told him with a lopsided grin.

"You watch soup operas, dawg?"

"Um...hehehe." Beast Boy simpered.

"Truly, friend." Starfire added. "Your gentle compassion towards the one who threatened you life was most...glorious."

Bard looked away. He had forgotten he'd had an audience.

"She's a rape victim." Raven dropped the bomb on them emotionlessly.

The cowboy jerked his head towards her.

"What?"

"The signs are all there." Raven continued in her monotone. "The mannerisms, the emotional behavior...I can feel it."

Bard's fists clenched around his adamantine knuckles as he felt the righteous anger build up in him. He turned and vehemently kick the unoffending wall with his cowboy boot.

"Damn it!" He yelled, punctuating his kick with the curse. "How-How can someone do that to another person?"

No one offered to answer that as he turned to look through the one way window at Zillah. She sat in the corner of the room with her knees drawn up to her chest. She looked so alone. So terribly alone...He suddenly had the urge to go back to her; just so she wouldn't be alone anymore...

Finally, Robin cleared his throat.

"Nonetheless," he told them. "That doesn't excuse her from what she's done."

Bard looked at the Boy Wonder incredulously.

"You don't think she deserves a second chance?"

"She tried to kill Starfire!" He pointed out intensely, jabbing his arm forward in emphasis. But then, biting his lip, he caught himself. "But giving her a second chance...That's not for me to decide, Bard." He declared, his tone much quieter. "We aren't here to pass judgement, only to apprehend criminals."

"C'mon, man!" It was Beast Boy. "You can't be that heartless! Now matter what someone's done...they can always redeem themselves...right?"

"I believe that." Bard stood next to Beast Boy and looked back at Robin.

"You might be right," Robin conceded. "But-"

"Hey!" Cyborg held up a titanium finger as if he were popping the image of a light bulb over his head. "I've got a way Zillah can redeem herself."

Everyone looked at him expectantly.

"C'mon, ya'll! It's simple: We have a hostage situation and a girl who can transport things in a blink of an eye. Any ideas come to mind?"

Understanding dawned on everyone's faces.

Lex Luthor sat behind his desk holding a phone, the scenic, high view of Metropolis behind him through the high windows.

"I hope you understand the significance of this contract, Mr. Logan." He was saying into the receiver. "And how _disappointed_ I will be if it doesn't come through. Do you understand me?"

He listened for a moment.

"...Good, I'm glad we understand each other. Do it." He hung up the phone.

**TAP! TAP! TAP!**

Lex Luthor shuddered and groaned inwardly. Oh, how he _hated_ that blasted sound! It meant that Superman was paying him a visit...a visit with nothing but hearing his idiotic idealisms and boy scout accusations. The CEO reluctantly turned towards the window...and was pleasantly surprised at whom he saw. He quicky stood up and opened a window to let his guest inside.

"Superboy," he greeted him with a thin smile. "And what do I owe the pleasure?"

The Boy of Steel glared at him.

"Don't play dumb, Baldy!" He verbally lashed out. "I know you made him!"

"Superboy...surely you don't mean that...strapping young lad that bares an uncanny resemblance to you?"

"..." Superboy briefly entertained the thought of frying Lex's brain with his heat vision.

"I don't know how you found out about that." Lex Luthor continued, his voice more serious now. "And I really don't care. It's not in my hands anymore."

"What are you talking about?"

"I funded the experiment to make the clone...but it seems an artificial Superboy is just as rebellious as the original. He went renegade."

Superboy looked at him suspiciously.

"Why would I have to gain by lying to you?" Lex pursed his lips as he walked over and poured himself a glass of wine. "I would offer you a glass, but I believe you're too young for some of the finer things in life." He murmured as he took a sip.

"Well, your clone isn't by himself now." Superboy told him, ignoring that comment. "Someone's pulling his strings from behind the scenes."

Lex almost spit out his five hundred dollar wine.

"What?" He ground his teeth together. "Who?"

"I don't know."

Lex flung the glass across the room, where it shattered against the wall and rained down on the expensive carpet.

"I'll tell you this, Superboy." Lex said angrily. "Whoever's controlling him...you better find him before I do...or you'll never find him at all!"

Superboy nodded and stepped back towards the window. But he stopped and turned back.

"Is there..." He stopped, looking for the right words for the inquiry. "Is there something you want to tell me, Lex?"

Luthor looked at him funny.

"Never mind," Superboy smirked. "You just answered that."

**SWOOSH!**

Lex Luthor turned away, his face sour.

_Bloody super heroes..._

Bard came back into the room with Zillah. He walked over to her slowly, almost cautiously.

"Are you-Are you...all right now?"

Zillah nodded.

"Yes, I'm fine." She paused. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Bard started.

"I-I was just worried about you..."

Silently, the cowboy berated himself. She was still the same person, but here he was tip toeing around her as if she was as fragile as glass or something!

"Do you think you can help me with something?" He asked her then, mentally shoving that aside.

"What is it?"

"Brother Blood...he's taken a hostage. I figure, with your powers and all...you could bring her back for us."

"..." Zillah bowed her head and said nothing.

"We're prepared to wipe the slate clean for you, Zillah! You can start your new life without anything hanging over your head! Do you understand?"

"I can't."

Bard blinked.

"Sure you can, just-"

"I said, I _can't_." Some fire came back into her exotic eyes. "If someone disappears under Sebastion's eyes, he'll know I'm still alive. Right now, he probably thinks I died in Neo-Zandia! But if he knows I'm alive, he'll come looking for me..."

"But there a life on the line, Zillah! If you don't do this-"

"My life's on the line, too!" Zillah flared, standing up. "Or does that matter to you? I thought you actually cared about me but-" She stopped suddenly, her eyes wide. "I should have known..." She muttered. "It was too good to be true. You're just like the rest! You're trying to use me!"

Bard took an unconscious step back.

"No, Zillah, I-"

"I won't let anyone use me again, Bard. Not ever again! Not even _you! You make me sick!_"

Bard saw her small fist coming, but he was too frozen in place by her sudden accusations to even think about dodging.

**WHAP!**

She caught him solidly on the jaw. He stumbled back, tripped and fell hard on his butt.

Suddenly, the door opened to reveal Beast Boy coming in.

"Dude, what-"

"No!" Bard shouted at him, his hand raised futilely. "Close the-"

But it was too late.

**ZHHHHT!**

Zillah was already gone.


	56. Untitled

"_D-Don't let the lesbian haircut fool you..." - Holly_

_**CHAPTER FIFTY SIX**_

Superboy fell down onto the city bench and rested his chin on his hands. His emotions were mixed. On one hand, he felt relief that Lex Luthor was ignorant of their genetic relationship. But on the other hand, he had no idea where to find Kon-El...or how to stop him. The Boy of Steel leaned back and sighed.

"So, is Mr. Luthor the bad guy?"

Superboy looked up to see Speedy relaxing beside him.

"How'd you know I went to see him?"

"I have my ways." The archer said slyly.

"...Have I ever told you that you're irritating?"

"Yup," Speedy grinned at him. "But you didn't answer my question: Is Luthor behind this?"

"Only by half," Superboy told him. "He funded the experiment to make the clone, but he doesn't have any control over him now."

"Do you know who does?"

Superboy shook his head. Speedy scratched the short stubble on his chin, thinking.

"I guess we'll just need some bait to draw him back out then." He finally said. "For some reason, he or _they_ want you out of the way...and they don't want anyone to see. So if we put you in a place where that aren't any people around..."

"But how am supposed to beat him if he has Kryptonite?" Superboy wanted to know.

"How else?" Speedy grinned. "_I'll_ be there!"

Superboy started muttering again.

Holly was grinning as she worked on the bonds at her feet, even as she kept glancing up to check the door. She didn't even _need_ the cops or the Titans or even her daddy! She was going to take care of this herself! She worked just a bit more...

And she was free!

She shot up out of the chair and looked around quickly. Her eyes lit up with an idea as her eyes fell onto the bulb swinging just above her. She reared back her fist...

**CLANK!**

"Shit!" She clutched her stinging and burnt knuckle. "Owie..."

She looked up and glared at the bulb.

"Ha!"

**SHATTER!**

"That's right!" Holly cheered from the sudden darkness. "Who's badass?"

Then, with a conniving grin...she screamed.

_"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

She was crouched in the corner, waiting, when the door opened.

"What's going on?" A feminine voice called out. Her pink eyes glowed slightly in the pitch dark room...so they made an excellent target for Holly's foot.

**WHAP!**

"Note to self," Holly muttered as she slipped out of the cell. "When you want to knock the shit out of something: Use your foot."

"So you traced the ransom call here?" Robin was asking Commissioner Walker. They stood behind a line of police cars that ringed around the old apartment building.

"It was damned easy, to tell the truth."

Robin rubbed his chin.

"Then Slade wanted us to know where he was, then."

The Commissioner nodded.

"I figured as much." He looked around. "Where's the cowboy?"

"He's not here-"

"_WHAT?"_ Walker exploded. "My baby girl's life is on the line and you didn't even bring the god damned-"

Robin silently held up Bard's pendant.

"...Don't I feel like a bitch?" The Commissioner simpered. "Good job, kiddo. I'm kinda tense right now, so just ignore any shit I give you."

"...I'll keep that in mind, Commissioner."

"So what are gonna do? Beast Boy piped up. "Are we gonna just give it over to him?"

"I say..." Cyborg transformed his arm into a sonic cannon with a metal, hi-tech clanking. "We go in there and let things get heavy!"

"Whatever we do," Raven pointed out quietly. "We have to be extremely careful. There's a human life that's depending on us."

"Agreed," Starfire said, raising a finger. "We must save the daughter of our foul-mouthed commissioner."

"We're going to, Star." Robin turned to Commissioner Walker. "Just give us the word, Commissioner."

Walker's brow creased.

"I want you to storm in there and try to take her back by force." He finally decided, stubbing out his cigarette. "BUT, if that wasn't work out...I want you to give up cowboy's necklace. Got it?"

"Understood." Robin nodded. Then he turned to his teammates. "Titans, go!"

Bard had no idea where he was going. He vaguely remembered Robin and Beast Boy trying to tell him something back in the tower, but he couldn't recall any words. All he knew was that Zillah was gone...and that he had to find her.

Zillah...the very name sent Bard's emotions into a tailspin. Was he supposed to feel angry over what she'd done? Or pity her for what she's been through? Or confused because she was never the same person? Or fear for her awesome metahuman powers? Or compassion for her situation?

The cowboy turned a corner with his boots straddeling the sides of his motorcycle and sighed. What was he expecting? To just ride around and find her sitting on a sidewalk with her face in her hands, crying and...

Bard blinked.

He was half right.

Zillah was sitting down, her face in her hands crying...on a rooftop. After parking his bike near the curb and shutting off its engine, he quickly hummed the wind song under his breath and flew up to her

"I don't want to talk to you." Zillah told him between her hands.

"I wasn't trying to use you." Bard told her anyway. "Look...you can read my mind if you want to-"

"Bard...Jonny, I know your thoughts." She said quietly. "You weren't meaning to use me...but you still tried, without even knowing it. I think it's my curse..."

"Now look here!" Bard said passionately. "You-"

"I'm going away, Bard." She cut him off. "I'm leaving. I'm going somewhere...where I can be alone."

"Zillah-"

"I just wanted you to know that..." She paused. "And that you're a good person; as close to holy as anyone could get. I won't be here when Trigon comes. It'll be up to you to stop him, my friend."

**ZHHHHT!**

Bard stared at the spot where she had been just a moment ago...He didn't know whether to break something or to breakdown and cry or scream out in frustration at how many conflicting sides Zillah had...

To cover all bases...he decided to do a little of all three.

Slade, Brother Blood and a dozen of Slade's robot henchmen were waiting patiently on the bottom floor of the condemned apartment building when the Titans made their appearance.

"Do you have what we asked for?" Slade asked, his pose cool and confident from where he kept his hands behind his back.

"Where's the girl?" Robin demanded of him, ignoring that.

"She is here." Slade answered. "And she will be released...as soon as you give me what I want."

"Slade!" Jinx panted, running towards him from the stairway. "She's gone! The Commissioner's daughter is gone!"

_"What!"_ Slade bellowed in rage at the young girl kneeling before him. He drew back his hand-

**SMACK!**

-and back smacked her across the room.

"When time allows, child, you will be more adequately punished than that."

Jinx trembled.

"Titans!" Robin called out, seeing confusion in the ranks of the enemy. "Go!"

The Boy Wonder leapt forward, his black and yellow cape flapping and his metal staff twirling over his head.

**CLANK!**

Slade caught his attack with a metal rod of his own. For a moment, Robin was frozen in midair with every bit of his weight pressing down on his enemy. But then, with a muffled grunt, Slade pushed back. Robin back flipped, landed on his feet and slid back into a crouch. With a war cry, he was advancing again. Meanwhile, Beast Boy, in the form of a stegosaurus, was backing up and taking the laser fire from Slade's henchmen. When he was far enough away, he turned and swept them all off their feet with his long, spiked tail. Somewhat ahead of him, Raven was floating and glaring at Brother Blood with glowing eyes.

"Time for some payback." She muttered. "Azarath, Metrion-Ugh!"

She was knocked to the ground by a glancing blow from a chunk of solid ice.

"Hraugghh!" Cyborg charged the cult leader. But Brother Blood flipped over his heavy punch, catapulted off his metal back, spun and brutally kicked Starfire to the ground. Cyborg was propelled forward...right into a pink hex bolt. During all of this, Robin and Slade's battle had taken them up onto a narrow catwalk.

"Star!" He yelled in concern when he saw her fall, gripping the rail.

**WHAP!**

Robin flipped over the rail and fell headfirst towards the unforgiving floor...

**CL-CLINK!**

His metal tipped boot had become entangled in an old, rusty chain hanging from the ceiling. Helplessly, he hung upside down.

"I believe now would be an opportune time to ask for the necklace." Slade purred at Robin's compromising position. He reached over the railing to start searching for it.

"Beast Boy!" Robin called. He took the necklace out of a compartment in his utility belt and tossed it up into the air. "Fetch!"

"A junkyard?" Superboy demanded.

"We needed someplace isolated so your clone wouldn't be afraid to confront you, remember?" Speedy reminded him

"I know, but...a _junkyard?_"

Speedy ignored him and turned to point at a small building.

"I'll be hiding there." He told him. "Do you know the plan?"

"Yeah, yeah," Superboy waved him off.

When the archer was gone, the Boy of Steel paced around for a few minutes before finally sitting on a huge, old tire. He had discarded his 'street' clothes and was now back in his usual, fighting uniform. He wanted to be easy to find, after all.

And he was.

He hadn't waited long when he saw Kon-El descending towards him.

"Ready for round two?" The clone quipped as he landed.

"Exactly what I was thinking." Superboy smirked back. "Are you gonna use kryptonite again? Or are you gonna finally prove that you're the superior Superboy?"

Kon-El grinned.

"Now I know I am your clone. Not only do you have my good looks, but you also know how to look at the important things." He patted his identical leather jacket. "The kryptonite's gonna stay right here while I show you that I'm the new and _improved_ Superboy!"

**SWOOSH!**

**SWOOSH!**

Speedy watched the fight from the rooftop of the small building he was perched on. The two clones grappled with each other in a test of strength, but neither could move the other as much as a fraction of an inch. The cloning was done perfectly; they were more evenly matched than seemed possible. Next, they fell into a duel of heat vision, lighting debris on fire around them. Finally, the whole thing deteirotaed into a superpowered slugfest.

**WHAM!**

Superboy sent Kon-El flying back into a wreckage of piled up, old cars. There was a screeching of metal when he collided with it. And God himself almost seemed to hold his breath as the pile of cars leaned...leaned...and toppled forward.

**CR-CR-CR-CR-CRASH!**

Kon-El was buried underneath at least two dozen cars. Superboy let out a sigh of relief and sank down to one knee, panting hard...

But then the pile started to move again. Kon-El, scratched and bleeding from numerous cuts all over his body stumbled out of the wreckage, his clothes in tatters. And with the last of his strength-

"RAUUUUGH!"

-he flew at Superboy, tackled him and flew him into anything destructive he could find. They smashed through compactors and junk heaps and even more cars. And all the while, Kon-El had been holding the Krytonite in his fist. Superboy now looked every bit as beaten as Kon-El.

**SWWWWWW-THUMP!**

Speedy's arrow knocked the glowing green meteor rock out of his hand as the Archer ran forward. Kon-El almost reached for it, but then he seemed to decide against it and reared back his fist to finish off his weakened counterpart. But suddenly, he fell beside his foe, writhing in pain like a perfect doppleganger. The Kryptonite lay on the ground not far away, and Kon-El's blood seemed to boil out of his cuts, just as Superboy's. Speedy took the opportunity to pick up the green rock and attached it's sharper end onto the head of one his arrows. He pulled back the string...

"Wait!" Superboy, (or was it Kon-El?), said, weakly holding up his bloody hand. "I'm the real deal!"

"No..." The other one coughed out, trying to sit up. "He's lying."

Speedy stood like a statue with the deadly green arrow held tautly against the bowstring, the eyes behind his mask darting between the two.

"Tell me this," he said it very quietly and clearly. "When I go to Titans Tower, who do you want me to irritate?"

The one he had been pointing his arrow at looked confused. He coughed and started to flounder.

"I want you to irritate...I-I want you to irritate...Robin!"

"Wrong answer," Speedy said grimly.

**TWANG!**

The Kryptonite arrow sank in to his chest with a sickening thud. He shuddered once, twice-

"I guess I wasn't the...best Superboy...after all." He whispered, blood dripping from his mouth.

And he shuddered for the last time.

Holly pressed her back against the wall and carefully peeked around a corner. She saw a window leading out to a fire escape. But she also saw a blonde, laser rifle toting girl sitting at a large table just in front of it.

_Kitten..._

Holly knew her from the police reports her daddy brought home. Besides him, no one knew more about crime in the city than his daughter. Kitten was the daughter of Killer Moth, and she had been captured along with him and Fang a few months ago. She had recently been released from the juvenile prison and, since then, it had been rumored that she was working for Slade.

_That sure as hell isn't a rumor anymore..._

But unlike Fang and many of the other villains in the city, Holly remember that Kitten had no meta-human abilities. She was just a teenage girl, and a weak and annoying one at that. Commissioner Decker's daughter decided that she could take her.

"Haaaaaaa!"

She zipped around the corner and, screaming like a banshee, rushed the girl. She reared back her fist and-

**CLANK!**

-Kitten blocked it with the metal stock of her laser rifle.

"Shit!" Holly howled, holding her bruised knuckles and jumping up and down in pain. "Owie, owie, owie!"

Kitten leveled the gun at her.

"Why did you scream?" She asked as if she were actually curious. "Don't do it next time; it's annoying. Of course, they will probably never be a next time..."

Holly's faced turned red. Kitten was calling _her_ annoying!

_Note to Self: When you want to knock the shit out of something..._

**CLANK!**

Holly kicked the gun out of the girls hands, pivoted and aimed her other foot at the girl's face. To her utter surprise, Kitten caught her attack. The blonde girl stared into her eyes as Holly hopped on one foot.

"This is going to be fun." She grinned.

Then she bitch slapped the Commissioner's daughter to the floor.

The golden crucifix chain seemed to hang in the air forever, and every eye in the room was fixated upon it.

**SKCRIII!**

A green hawk swooped and caught it in his talons. He let out a triumphal shriek-

**ZLING!**

A pink hex bolt clipped his wing. Like a HIND helicopter without it's tail end, he twirled toward the ground. When he hit, he was back in elf form, sitting on his butt and rubbing his head.

"Ow..." He complained.

**THWACK!**

Beast Boy went tumbling after Brother Blood buried his foot into his ribs. He reached down and picked up the cross pendant from the floor.

"Very good," Slade approved, walking up from behind him.

In his free hand, Brother Blood was forming a spike of ice.

"Now we can-"

**SHRICK!**

Slade stopped abruptly and cast his single eye downwards to stare incredulously at the ice spike buried in his chest.

"I was never one to share." Brother Blood grinned maliciously.

Slade stared back until, suddenly, his mask fell to the floor...revealing a small monitor.

_"Did you think I truly trusted you, Sebastion?"_ Slade's figure asked from the screen. _"You should have known that I was not that foolhardy." _He paused. _"You have made yourself a dangerous enemy today, Sebastion. I WILL collect what is mine."_

"I'd like to see you-" Brother Blood started, but he was interrupted by the blinking, red numbers on the screen.

_3..._

_2..._

_1..._

_**BOOOM!**_

Kitten pounced and throttled Holly's downed figure. She reached out and wrapped her hands around her throat. Struggling mightily, Holly kicked her off. The two girls rose to their feet at the exact same time, and both of them caught sight of the laser rifle on the floor between. They dove for it.

"Yaughhh!"

"Hauugh!"

Kitten reached it first and wrapped her hands around it, but the Holly landed on her back. She put the villain in a headlock with one hand and reached for the gun with the other. Sweat beaded on their brows as they fought for possession of the weapon. Finally, Kitten drove her elbow backwards into Holly's face and came up with rifle.

"You're a better fighter than I thought." Kitten admitted, sweeping the hair out of her face and aiming the gun at Holly, who had frozen in the act of getting back up. "But I doubt you'll be able to dodge a laser."

Holly gasped as Kitten's finger tensed around the trigger...

**BOOOM!**

The floor shook, forced the shot to awry and sent Kitten to the floor. The heavy table tipped over and pinned down the blonde's legs. Seeing the opportunity, Holly rushed over to the window, opened it and started to step onto the metal fire escape, but then she stopped. Looking over her shoulder, she came back to where Kitten was trapped. Looking down at her, her eyes wavered with sympathy...

**WHAP!**

Holly kicked her hard in the side.

"...Bitch," she muttered before making her escape.

From beside a squad car, Commissioner Walker anxiously watched the Titans walk towards him.

"Where's my baby?" He demanded.

"I-I'm sorry, Commissioner." Robin told him reluctantly. "We searched everywhere, but there was no one else in the building."

Walker's eyes grew stricken.

"My baby's...gone?" He whispered, his tone unbelieving.

Robin said nothing.

"Hey!" A young, female's voice shrieked at two officers who were checking on her from a couple dozen yards away. "What are you, god damned pervs or something? Let me go!"

The Commissioner's grin nearly split his face.

"That's the most beautiful voice I have ever heard."

"If you say so..." Raven droned.

"Daddy!" Holly ran over and Walker held out his arms to catch her in a hug.

**THUMP!**

"Shit, honey!" Commissioner Walker rubbed his shoulder from where his daughter had slugged him. "What was that for?"

"Why didn't you come and get me?" She demanded.

"I sent the damn Titans after you, for Christ's sake!"

"The Titans?" Holly suddenly noticed them. She blushed a crimson red, lowered her eyes and cutely fluttered her eyelashes. "Hi, Robin."

"Um, hi..." The Boy Wonder replied nervously.

"Dear friend!" Starfire beamed, immediately crushing her with a hug. "We are ecstatic that you are undamaged!"

"Ahem..." Holly cleared her throat nervously. "D-Don't let the lesbian haircut fool you..."

Starfire released her and cocked her head to the side.

"Lesbian?"

Holly opened her mouth-

"Oh!" Starfire said. "I remember now! Lesbian is what Beast Boy said his female admirers would become were he to perish!"

The changeling sweat dropped.

"Oh, yeah?" Holly said, looking over at the green man and winking seductively at him. "Well, when he kicks the bucket, look me up."

Beast Boy took in a shuddering breath, fainted and toppled over.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"I-I was just joking..." Holly simpered.

"..."

"..."

"I, for one, though it was _quite _humorous." Raven deadpanned.


	57. Laughter

_"I can't believe it... She's actually...__**cuter!**__" - Robin_

_**CHAPTER FIFTY SEVEN**_

_**LAUGHTER**_

Bard was in a pensive, melancholy mood when he returned. He found that no one else was in the tower and, for that, he was glad. He didn't feel up to talking to anyone at the moment, anyway. Quietly, his mind deep in thought and numb at the same time, he made his way to his room. Once there, he mechanically walked over to the corner to pick up his guitar...only to find that it wasn't there. Needless to say, that didn't make the cowboy feel any better. He paced aimlessly around the room for a few minutes before finally flinging himself down onto the half-circle couch. As he sat sprawled out, he looked out the window at the blue, restless sea, his gaze facing south. He knew that, were he able to look over the hundreds and hundreds of miles, he'd be able to see the place where he'd grown up. That brought a sigh from his mouth. He leaned back, closed his eyes and tried to think clearly.

Zillah was gone. She was gone because her powers...and her body, Bard admitted reluctantly, had been exploited for half her life. He wasn't sure how to deal with that. How could he possibly relate? To tell her everything was going to be all right? The answer was simple: He couldn't.

Maybe she _was_ better off by herself...for now, anyway. Maybe some time by herself would give her time to think, to give put things in perspective. Maybe she just had to find an answer for herself. Maybe...

Suddenly, unbidden, the words of a song he had once started to write popped into his head.

_It was a sunset in the morning, a snowy day in the Spring. A flame doused before it's time, by the pouring rain..._

Bard mentally slapped himself for thinking of that. He stood up, restless once again. After a moment, he decided to head for the training room. He had a definite urge to hit something, for some reason...

"Well, this sucks!" Beast Boy said he and the rest of the Titans entered the main room of the tower.

"Whaddya mean?" Cyborg asked. "We got the Commish's daughter back, didn't we?"

"Yeah," the changeling admitted. "But we had to give up Bard's cross thingy! He can't use his arm now!"

"But we didn't."

Everyone stared at the Boy Wonder.

"The necklace I brought with me." Robin said slyly. "Was simply a fake."

"A decoy?" Starfire asked.

"Exactly,"

"Hey, where is Bard, anyway?" Beast Boy asked.

"Check his room." Raven muttered the suggestion, heading down another hallway.

"I want to check up on Superboy." Robin announced, walking away as well.

Cyborg and and Beast Boy looked at each other.

"Gamestation?"

"...I don't think so."

Beast Boy stared at his metal friend.

"I have to go dig the T-Car out of the inlet, remember?" Cyborg explained to him. "I know it wasn't his fault but...I hope the next time we train, I get to go up against Bard."

The changeling grinned.

"That'll be fun to watch." He thought about it. "Maybe I can sell tickets..." He mused as Cyborg headed out. Then he shrugged and hopped on to the couch for some serious gaming.

Starfire was left alone. She moved as if she were going to follow Robin, but then she seemed to change her mind and floated down the hallway instead.

Bard walked into the training room, stripped down for a vigorous workout. His trench coat, along with his nearly omnipresent cowboy hat, were missing. Instead, he wore a white tank top and a red, white and blue Confederate flag bandanna to keep his long hair out of his eyes. Below that, he wore loose, black jeans. The only things that hadn't changed about he cowboy's attire were his darkened glasses, the cross pendant necklace dangling from his neck and his trusty black cowboy boots. he caught a brief glimpse of himself in a mirror hanging from the wall and, though he was no bodybuilder by any stretch of the imagination, he admitted to himself that he was easily in the best shape of his life. Being a super hero was strenuous work, after all.

But those were the wandering thoughts in the back of his mind. In the forefront, almost as if her image were painted on the insides of his glasses, was Zillah. Trying to ignore that, he tossed his adamantine knuckles to the floor and went to stand before the punching bag that hung from the ceiling.

**WHAM!**

**WHAM!**

**BAM!**

**BAM! BAM! BAM!**

Jabs, roundhouses, hooks...if it was a punch, Bard threw it. After a few minutes, Bard was sweating heavily, strands of wet hair came loose from his bandanna and his arms were starting to get tired, so he started throwing in kicks, as well.

**WH-WH-WHAM!**

**BA-BA-BAM!**

"I believe this is a pattern of terran males." Starfire's voice told him from somewhere behind.

Though he didn't turn around, he stopped his abuse on the punching bag and leaned his sweaty forehead against it to rest.

"I have witnessed Robin here, doing the same, many, many times." Starfire continued. "Cyborg and even Beast Boy have come here on occasion as well. It seems to me that, when terran males are in emotional strife, that they seek to banish it by strenuous work and by beating the attacking bags."

"..."

"I know your relationship with Zillah , but I also know that you cared for her." Starfire said sympathetically. "And I cannot solve her, or your, problem. But I can tell you that I care for her as well."

Bard turned and looked at her incredulously.

"But she tried to kill you!" He objected. "Remember?"

Starfire blinked.

"Well, yes, I suppose she did..." Her emerald eyes fell. "But I am sure she is most sorry!" She suddenly beamed.

Bard couldn't help it...he laughed. A helpless little chuckle that seemed to take over his whole body. His chest shook as he tried to contain it...but he couldn't do it. Finally, he gave up and the training room was filled with the joyous sound of his laughter.

Starfire looked confused, but after a moment, she joined in. And that only made the cowboy laugh all the louder.

"C'mon!" Speedy cajoled Superboy. The two of them were walking down a street in Metropolis. "You've gotta tell me: Who do you want me to irritate when I get to Titans Tower?"

Superboy glanced over at him.

"Why? You think you shot the wrong Superboy, or somethin'?"

"Just answer the question, man!"

"All right..." Superboy glanced sidelong at him. "...Beast Boy,"

"_BEAST BOY?_" Speedy erupted. "That's not the right answer!"

"It isn't?" Superboy asked, all innocence.

"No, it isn't!"

"It must be Cyborg, then."

"It's not Cyborg either!" The Archer was fuming.

"Raven?"

"Argh!" Speedy pulled at his orange hair. "You better be kidding around!"

"Why?" The Boy of Steel asked nonchalantly. "You handed the Kryptonite over to the authorities. You don't have _another_ Kryptonite-tipped arrow, do ya, Speedy?"

Speedy simmered with a red face and Superboy could almost see the heat fumes radiating off the top of his head.

"All right, all right," Superboy finally surrendered. "I was just kidding."

Speedy took in a deep breath.

"Good," he said, calming down.

"..."

"..."

"Starfire?"

"_ARGH!"_

"Yo, Bard!" Beast Boy called him over when the cowboy entered the main room.

"What's up?"

"Well..." The changeling put down his controller and sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "I just wanted to say, well, that I'm sorry. You know, for opening the door and-"

"Nothing to apologize for." Bard said it quickly.

"...Oh,"

"..."

"Say, wanna help me with something?"

"...With what?" The cowboy said it cautiously.

"My costume, of course!"

Bard looked at him funny.

"What's wrong with it?" He roamed Beast Boy's black and purple suit with his eyes for anything amiss...

"Dude! Stop looking at me like that! You'd think you were gay or something!"

Bard's eyes went flat behind his glasses.

"I _know_ you didn't just call me-"

"I meant my Halloween costume!" Beast Boy interrupted him.

"Halloween?" Bard mimicked.

_Is it Halloween already?_

"Oh, dude!" Beast Boy suddenly caught himself. "You don't do Halloween, do you?"

Bard stared at him funny.

"Ya know, it's the whole 'Devil's Day' and stuff!" He waved his skinny arms 'evilly'.

"Only if you let it." Bard shrugged. "I do Halloween. When I was a kid, it was the only way for me to get candy."

"Cool!" Beast Boy pumped a fist. "You can help me with my costume and...I'LL MAKE ONE FOR YOU, TOO! MUHAHAHAHAH!"

Bard sweat dropped and his lower lip quivered. He opened his mouth to object-

**YANK!**

It was too late: The eccentric little green man already had him in his diabolical clutches.

"So Speedy was with you? Robin asked Superboy via the television monitor. A busy Metropolis street could be seen behind the Boy of Steel.

"Yeah," Superboy answered. "I let him tag along and watch me take my clone to school. He almost got hurt, but I was there to save him."

"Hey!" The Archer protested from off camera. Robin could just barely see one of his arms waving in the frame. "If it wasn't for me, Supes, you'd be-"

The Boy of Steel cleared his throat, interrupting the masked hero's objection.

"He also say he'll be at the tower later." Superboy added quickly.

"...Right," Robin blinked. "Did you find out who was controlling the clone?" He asked.

"No," Superboy shook his head. "But Speedy here said he'd come back and check around after his visit."

"All right," Robin nodded curtly. "I'll see you tonight, then."

"Ew!" Superboy recoiled from the screen. "Don't say it like that, man! You make it sound like we're going on a date or somethin'!"

"..."

"..."

"...Robin out,"

**CLICK!**

Superboy put away his communicator and turned to Speedy.

"It's time for me to go back to Jump City." He decided. "I would ask you to travel with me, but-"

"But I'm irritating, right?" Speedy finished for him wryly.

"Um, actually..." Superboy blinked. "I _was_ gonna say you couldn't keep up with me..."

"..."

"But you're irritating, too, if that makes you feel better." He grinned.

Speedy ignored that.

"I can't go yet, anyway." He told him. "I still have to pick up my costume for tonight. Who are you dressing up as?"

Superboy shrugged.

"Me," he said simply. "I couldn't think of anyone cooler. Who are _you_ gonna be?"

Speedy looked around slyly and whispered the answer into Superboy's ear. The Boy of Steel burst out laughing.

"I was right," he said, still laughing. "You _are_ irritating!"

That evening, Robin, Superboy, Raven and Cyborg stood in the main room of the tower, watching the entranceway expectantly. Cyborg stood off to one side, holding a few index cards with crude handwriting on them in one of his titanium hands.

"All right, ya'll!" He said with a big grin. "Robin, drum roll please?"

Grinning as well, the Boy Wonder started slapping his thighs with the flats of his gloved hands.

"First out," Cyborg read off the card. "The mushroom munchin', star snatchin', pipe 'portin', fireball flinging plumber, the undisputed King of Video Games...Mario!"

With a running start, Beast Boy slid into the room on his knees...only to forget about the step that led down into the living area.

"Ouch...oof...ow!" The green changeling rolled to a stop, lying in a heap on the floor.

Everyone stared in silence.

Beast Boy quickly leapt to his feet, turned, posed and threw out a peace sign.

"It'sa me!" He announced in a squeaky voice. "Mario!"

Superboy snickered.

"I-It's a nice c-costume, Beast Boy." Robin stuttered, sweat dropping.

"It's cool, huh, dude?" He was wearing a red cap with matching overalls. He wore white gloves, black boots and a blue, short sleeved undershirt.

Cyborg cleared his throat.

"And now," he said, glancing at Beast Boy nervously. "Made from sugar and spice and everything nice, (along with a bit of Chemical X), is the adorable, butt-kicking leader of the Power Puff Girls...Blossom!"

"Da-ta!" Starfire swooped into the room spinning and giggling uncontrollably. She wore a pink dress, a thick black belt, white panty hose and black, little girl shoes. She topped off the outfit with a huge, red bow on top of her head.

Everyone stared at her in silence...again.

"I can't believe it..." Robin was slack jawed. "She's actually..._cuter!_"

"Oh, yeah?" Superboy asked slyly, elbowing suggestibly.

"That's not what I mea-"

"Robin!" Starfire swooshed over to him and engulfed him in a hug. "You are so sweeee-eeeeet! And though you did not alter your appearance for this joyous occasion, I believe you to be of an equal amount of the cuteness!"

Though Raven looked away indifferently, everyone else snickered.

"That's n-nice, Star..." Robin simpered helplessly.

"Is my costume not acceptable?" She squeaked reluctantly.

"N-no, Star. It's fine."

"And up next," Cyborg went on to the next card. "He is The Icon, The Main-Eventer, The Showstoppa, The Master of the Sweet Chin Music...The Heart Break Kid, Shawn Michaels!"

"..."

No one showed up.

"AHEM!" Cyborg cleared his throat loudly. "The Heart Break Kid, Shaw-n Michaels!"

"..."

"C'mon, dude!" Beast Boy yelled into the hallway. "You gotta come out sometime!"

"I'm gonna kill you for this." Bard voice came back.

"Nonsense! You look just like him, dude! That costume is killer!"

Not very enthusiastically, Bard reluctantly plodded out.

And everyone stared...for a third time. Everyone had silly grins on their faces, and even Raven had to turn away to hide a smirk.

"Okay," Bard told them, his tone defeated. "Go ahead: Laugh it up now."

The cowboy's hair was untied and loose. He wore black tights with jagged, broken heart designs on them and red, chain mail chaps along with black wrestling boots. The only thing he wore on his torso was a matching chain mail vest...that was quite see-through. Surprisingly, his darkened glasses didn't seem out of place.

Everyone laughed good naturedly.

"You gotta admit, though." Cyborg said. "He _does_ look just like him!"

"C'mon, Bard!" Beast Boy told him. "You have to do the pose!"

"I don't think-"

"Yes, friend!" Starfire encouraged him through her rosy blush. "You must do 'the pose'!"

Bard sighed. No one, at least not himself, could say no to Starfire. He spread his legs, put all of his weight on one bent knee and held his hands over his head, flexing his biceps.

Starfire clapped and giggled while everyone else laughed again.

"Now," Beast Boy said. "You have to tell us how much you hate Triple H!"

"Don't push it," Bard replied flatly.

"But-"

Suddenly, Bard lifted his foot, slapped the top of his thigh with his hand and stomped loudly.

"EEP!" Beast Boy dove behind the couch.

"It's the signal that he's about to do the Sweet Chin Music." Cyborg explained. "A side kick."

"He uses a side kick to knock people out?" Robin asked, slightly disgusted. "I don't know why you watch that stuff."

"Don't trash wrestling!" Beast Boy objected from behind the couch.

"Ahem," Cyborg cleared his throat once again. "And last, but not least, the Titans' special guest..." Cyborg quickly read ahead, spluttered and burst out laughing.

"What is it, man?" Superboy demanded, but he was secretly trying to hide a smirk.

Cyborg couldn't answer though: He was still laughing.

"Give it to me," Bard said. "I'll read it." He took the card. "And last, but not least, the Titans' special guest...The Justice Bird from Gotham, the Caped Crusader, the Boy Wonder himself...Robin!"

"_**WHAT?**_" Robin half-screamed.

'Robin' ran into the room, twirling a metal bo over his head. He flipped forward, performed a back handspring and fell into a pose, leaning against the staff.

"...Children," Raven muttered.

"'The Justice Bird'?" Beast Boy said quizzically. "Who wrote _that_?"

"Who gave you permission to be me!" Robin thundered at Speedy, pointing an accusatory finger at him.

"Watch out dudes!" Beast Boy shrieked, diving for cover again. "I think the vein in Robin's head is about to bust!"

"It's a free country." Speedy shrugged. "I thought it was a cool idea. Next year, you ought to dress up as me!"

"No...Way," Robin grated.

Meanwhile, Bard, (or HBK), had snuck over, jangling the whole way, to talk to Raven.

"Why didn't you dress up?" He asked her curiously.

"It's pointless,"

Bard chuckled ruefully.

"Somehow, I knew you were going to say that."

"..."

"Ya know," the dressed up cowboy mused. "You ought to have been Vincent Valentine...even though he's a guy."

"...Who?"

"Vincent Valentine," Bard repeated, beginning to explain. "He's a video game character. He's this vampire-like fella who wears all black and he's got a metal claw where his hand is suppposed to be. He's stoic, and when ever he loses control of his emotions, he transforms into these evil demon forms...-" He suddenly stopped himself. "But, I reckon you don't want to hear about that." He concluded lamely.

Raven's eyes, however, were piqued with curiousity.

"What game is he from?"

Bard looked at her, surprised that she had asked.

"Final Fantasy VII,"

"Final Fantasy VII..." Raven repeated to herself. "Perhaps I'll add that to my Castlevania collection..."

Bard blinked. He opened his mouth-

"Wait a minute," Raven said as the thought occured to her. "Where did you ever play it?" She asked. "I 'saw' where you grew up and-"

"It was Amber's." Bard said it quickly, looking away. "It...it was her favorite game."

Silence...

"Bard..." Raven managed to say it almost tenderly.

Bard forced himself to lock eyes with his sister again.

"...N-never mind..."

And she swiftly walked away from him.

Cyborg sat in the driver's seat of the T-Car, Raven sat beside him in the passenger seat and Bard and Beast Boy sat in the back.

"I don't know about you guys," 'Mario' was saying. "But if I had a bad to the bone Harley, or even better, a _moped_, I sure as heck wouldn't be riding in the dinky T-Car!"

"You take that back, you little grass stain!" Cyborg thundered from the front. "Nobody trashed me ride and-"

"In case you didn't _notice_," Bard almost hissed at Beast Boy around his cigarette, interrupting the robot. "This vest you gave me isn't very warm. I'm gonna be cold anyway, but if I would have rode my Harley-"

"Your nipples would have fallen off?" Beast Boy finished for him.

Cyborg burst out laughing.

"Hey!" The cowboy objected, billowing smoke. "That's not what I was gonna say!"

That simply made the changeling and his titanium buddy laugh harder. Bard pouted for a minute, but then he tapped Cyborg on the shoulder.

"Yo?"

"Say...where are we going, anyway?"


	58. Night of Fear

"_You're a bad role model."_ _- Bard_

_**CHAPTER FIFTY EIGHT**_

_**NIGHT OF FEAR**_

_Into the cloudy, starless night, Bard emerged onto the roof of Titans Tower and lit a cigarette. He inhaled and then exhaled a puff of smoke with a long sigh of pleasure as nicotine ran through his veins._

_"Glad to see you're enjoying yourself." Raven uttered. She was floating, her legs were crossed and she was meditating._

_"Sometimes" Bard started, moving his cigarette to the other side of his mouth. "I wonder if those snide comments come from the real you locked inside or the shell that's trying so desperately to hide it from me."_

_Raven's eyes flashed. She pivoted her head to turn and glare at her cowboy brother._

_"I thought we agreed we were not to talk about this." She grated. "It's too dangerous."_

_"I don't care" Bard burst out, throwing away his barely smoked cigarette. "I want to know my __**sister!**__ Not the emotionless corpse she hides behind"_

_"You don't know what you speak of. Trigon..."_

_"You think I don't know Trigon? He's my father, too, or have you forgotten that"_

_"You don't know him like __**I**__ do." Raven told him firmly._

_"Maybe not" Bard agreed. "But do you know why"_

_"I don't want to hear about you imaginary god..."_

_"To hell with God" The cowboy yelled savagely, ripping off his hat and glasses and slinging them to the ground. "I don't care about him. I care about __**you**__! I've told you this once and I'll tell you again: If Trigon shows his ugly face I'll take his ass to the damn woodshed! Do you hear me"_

_Her concentration broke and she came to the ground. Raven closed her eyes to block the tears. She was losing it. Her emotions were unbridled. She was losing control. Losing it..._

Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy and Bard were still in the T-Car...

"Dude, I think I forgot something for you costume." The green changeling dressed as Mario said, fingering his fake black moustache.

"You _think!_"

"Don't be such a baby. You won't be _that_ cold"

"I _know_ you didn't just call me"

"I meant something else." Beast Boy interupted him. "Your chest isn't hairy enough to be Shawn Michael's."

Cyborg chuckled heartily from his driver's seat, but Bard was focusing all his attention on staring holes through Beast Boy.

"Do you really want to talk about chests" He asked pointedly.

"Ahem" Beast Boy looked down at his narrow chest under the overalls and cleared his throat. "Shutting up now."

"Why so quiet, Raven" Cyborg asked her then.

"...I'm always quiet."

"Not like _this_" The robot waved his free arm. "You haven't cracked on BB once"

"..."

Bard tried to shake his head an warn his friend, but Cyborg wasn't looking back at him.

"So what's wrong"

Raven sent him a death glare.

"...All right, then." Cyborg sweat dropped. "We're here."

The T-Car pulled to a stop, and the headlights revealed two dozen children in assorted costumes standing in the front lawn of the LivingTree Orphanage.

"All right, ya'll" Cyborg said as he unbuckled his seat belt and checked his baby's theft precautions. "Ready to take the kiddies trick or treating"

"Let's do it"

"Yeah, dude! They are _so_ gonna love my costume"

"Um...sure"

Once the four Titans had filed out of the T-Car, they noticed that the kids weren't alone. Off to one side, steadily puffing away on a cigarette was-

"Thank God you're here" Commissioner Walker sighed in relief. "If I had to deal by myself with all these little shi"

"So, what are you supposed to be, sir" Bard asked him quickly.

Walker looked the same as always: A dusty brown long coat, crumpled shirt, tie and pants and at least marginally in need of a shave.

"An underpaid police commissioner." He grunted. "What are you supposed to be? A male stripper? Or maybe a gay rodeo star"

Bard grit his teeth and his eyes went flat behind his glasses.

"I _know_ you didn't just call me"

"Daddy" A girl said exasperatedly, coming up from behind the Commissioner. "He's HBK, the guy on the wrestling show" She paused and thoughtfully tapped her fingernail against her chin. "Although he _would_ be a damn hot stripper..." She added.

The cowboy sweat dropped.

"Holly" Commissioner Walker burst out, shocked. "Don't say that"

"What? Damn"

"Hell no! I meant that other shit you said"

Nervously, Cyborg glanced over at the group of costumed children gathered together nearby. Thankfully, (or so the robot hoped), they were too far way to hear the foul-mouthed family.

Meanwhile, Bard was looking over Holly. She had dark green eyes and short, barely shoulder length red hair. But what Bard noticed first was what she was wearing: A dark cowboy hat. A flowing trench coat. A pair of black cowboy boots...

"Um..." He scratched the back of his head. "I reckon your supposed...to be me" He asked her.

"We don't a new titan every day, ya know."

"Superboy joined up right after I did."

"Yeah, well" she shrugged. "He's not as cool as you."

Bard grinned from ear to ear.

"_God_ I wish Superboy could have heard you say that..."

"And now I know why you wear these suckers." Holly went on, holding up her hands to show metal knuckles.

Bard looked at her blankly.

"She's the girl that was kidnaped, dude." Beast Boy reminded him. "Ya know, the Commish's daughter"

"...Oh"

"Yeah" Holly went on. "I didn't feel like waiting around for someone to come save my ass, so I did it on my own."

Bard stared at her incredulously.

"You escaped from Brother Blood _and_ Slade" He spluttered.

"And I beat down Jinx and Kitten while I was at it" She beamed proudly.

"That's my girl" Commissioner Walker cheered.

Raven blinked.

"You fought both Jinx and Kitten" She asked seriously.

"Damn straight" Holly gave her a thumbs up.

"Dude, she _is_ kickass"

Bard looked at the changeling, shocked.

"...Sorry" Beast Boy simpered. "I kinda got carried away..."

"And I thought _I_ was a bad role model..."

"What was that" Commissioner Walker asked him brusquely.

"Ahem, nothing."

"Can't we get this over with" Raven droned.

Commissioner Walker opened his mouth-

"I wouldn't" Bard and Cyborg warned him at almost the same time.

Commissioner Walker raised a finger-

"She can turn your skin inside out." Cyborg reminded him.

"But it's your skin..." Bard shrugged indifferently, hiding a smirk.

Commissioner Walker glared at the two teenage super heroes. Finally, he cursed vehemently under his breath.

"All right" he grumbled begrudgingly. "Let's get this damn show on the road."

_It was a dark, abandoned cathedral. Faint light entering from the tall, stained glass windows was losing the battle against the darkness. Slade, his hands behind his back, stood before his apprentice._

_"You have had doubts in the past." He uttered. "Made mistakes."_

_The apprentice stood perfectly still, eyes closed and head bowed._

_"But all that is behind you, isn't it"_

_The apprentice, eyes now open, looked up._

_"Yes"_

_"You belong to me now..." Slade leaned forward. "Don't you"_

_"I do." The apprentice gazed unflinchingly at the single eye the villain's mask exposed._

_"From this day forward, will you serve me and me alone"_

_"I will."_

_"Will you obey my every command"_

_"I will."_

_"Will you fight at my side forever" His voice was intent, coldly passionate._

_"I will."_

_"And will you destroy the Teen Titans"_

_The apprentice, dressed in metal wrappings with a stylized 'S' over the chest, looked at the master with squinted eyes._

_"I thought you'd never ask." Beast Boy grinned viciously._

The trick or treating kids, along with Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, Bard, Commisionner Walker and his daughter, were walking down the street in a more suburban part of the city. Bard, jangling, walked beside a little girl with her usual pigtails missing.

"Well, Bridget." Bard was saying. "I see you decided to be Merlin."

The ten year old girl at his side adjusted the homemade blue robe with glittery stars and moons.

"I was going to be Britney Spears." She replied sardonically. "But I'm too young to act like her."

"No" Bard chuckled. "Just too smart. I never knew Merlin wore pink eyeglasses and shaved his beard, though." He grinned at her.

"I never knew Shawn Michaels wore black sunglasses and shaved his chest."

"Oooooh" Cyborg cringed. "The girl just smoked you, dawg"

Bard opened his mouth-

"Hey, don't pick on him" Holly cut in with a seductive smirk. "I like his smooth chest"

"Don't push it." The cowboy said flatly

"Don't be ashamed of your smooth chest"

Bard stomped away a few feet...jangling...and muttered under his breath.

"Dudes" Beast Boy said as he came over to them. "Are we just gonna walk around or are we gonna get some cannnnnnndy"

"As if you need more sugar..." Raven muttered.

"C'mon, B" Cyborg said. "You're too old to get candy! This is for the kids"

"Too...old...for...candy" Beast Boy's eyes watered and wavered.

"Damn pansy" Commissioner Walker grunted, brushing past him and leading the kids up to a house door.

Beast Boy stayed behind. He whimpered and fell to his knees.

Cyborg turned around and sighed. He easily picked up the 'plumber' by the back of his overalls and carried him along with the group.

"Too...old...for..._candy?_"

The robot groaned.

When they were leaving the house, Beast Boy, slightly recovered, fell in beside young man dressed as a green Power Ranger.

"What didja get" He asked the boy, almost bouncing.

The Power Ranger looked into his plastic bag.

"A bag of Skittles and two bars of Snickers" He said proudly.

"Snickers" Beast Boy echoed, his eyes lighting up. "I love Snickers"

The boy kept on walking.

"As a matter of fact, dude." The disguised changeling went on suggestively. "Snickers is my favorite candy in the whoooooole _world!_"

The green Power Ranger nodded obliviously.

"If you give me one...I'll turn into something cool"

"A dragon"

"Um..." Beast Boy blinked. "How 'bout a T-Rex"

"But I wanna see a dragon"

"How 'bout"

"I want you to turn into a dragon" The boy said. "Or I won't give you a Snickers"

"But"

"Dragon"

"But"

_"Dragon"_

"But"

_"DRAGON"_

"Yo, BB" Cyborg called over to him with a broad grin. "Not going anywhere for a while"

"Dude, that was _so_ not funny..."

_When Cyborg came to, he found himself in a dark room, barely illuminated by the harsh lights of small electronics. He was laying down and, when he tried to move, he found that his limbs were restrained._

_"What's going on"_

_"You were broken." An emotionless, electronic voice told him._

_Cyborg turned his head, trying to see who had spoken._

_"I have brought you here to be repaired."_

_"Repaired? But there's nothing wrong with me" Cyborg objected, still searching for a glimpse of whom was talking to him. "I feel fine"_

_"Perhaps...but my sensors are much more accurate than your 'feelings'." The speaker finally glided into the faint light. The figure was abnormally lean and covered by a long, flowing robe. A harshly angled, hairless head emerged from the top of it; a head that wasn't human._

_"Fix-It"_

_"Indeed" the android replied. "The organic substances that make up some of your mass are imperfect. They must be replaced."_

_"No" Cyborg declared passionately, fear tinging his voice. "I like my organic substance! My human side is the best part of me"_

_"Foolishness" Fix-It brushed his objection aside, reaching for something with a gaunt, unfeeling hand. "The organic part of you makeup is distorting your rational intelligence." The android turned and forced a robotic mask on the hybrid's face._

_"NOOOOOO" Cyborg screamed at the top of his lungs..._

_But Fix-It paid him no heed._

A few hours later, they returned to the Living Tree Orphanage and the kids were toting plastic bags laden down with assorted treats and candies. After Bard had a short farewell with Bridget, he, Beast Boy, Raven, Cyborg, Commissioner Walker and Holly found themselves alone in front of the building.

"No...candy..." Beast Boy whispered to himself miserably. "Not one single piece..."

"Can we go home now?" Raven asked monotonously.

"Well," Cyborg rubbed the back of his head. "Our job _is_ done here..."

"Wait a minute," Holly spoke up, adjusting her cowboy hat. "There's one more place we have to go."

"Our obligation is complete." Raven contradicted.

"No, I heard some kids talking at school yesterday." The temporary cowgirl went on. "About a haunted house."

The dark sorceress blinked.

"A...haunted house?"

"Yup," Holly nodded quickly. "I heard the place is so damn scary and creepy that it'll make you piss your pants!"

"I don't think so," Bard was saying. "My first instinct when I get scared is to hit something...anything. I'd rather not break an actor's nose."

"No," Holly shook her head. "A _real_ haunted house!"

"Really?" Beast Boy joined the conversation. "A real one?"

Holly nodded.

"Sounds like fun to me!" Cyborg put in his vote.

"I don't know..." Bard started dubiously.

"What? You scared?" Holly asked him.

"No, but-"

"No wonder you don't have any hair on your chest..."

Commissioner Walker laughed crudely while Bard's face turned beet red with anger.

"That's it!" He bellowed. "I'm gonna show you that cowboys don't have fear! We're going to that haunted house and we're going right now!"

"Yes, sir." Holly grinned at him.

_Bard sat on the half circle couch in his room, idly playing his guitar. Gazing out the window before him, he knew it was still an hour or so before dawn would streak the sky, and the room was covered in shadow. The cowboy was playing a long riff on the guitar when-_

_**SWISH!**_

_-the door to his room slid open. Bard frowned. How could anyone else be up at this hour?_

_"Who's there" He called out to the darkness._

_No answer but silence._

_"Who's there" He repeated, a little louder this time._

_"It's me..." The shadows whispered._

_Bard's head cocked to the side._

_"Raven"_

_"I have to tell you something." Her voice was still a whisper; cold, subdued and...weak._

_"What is it" Bard asked her in concern, his voice unconsciously quiet as well. He still couldn't see her, just a vague shadow of her outline._

_"I..." The dark sorceress took in a deep breath. "I have to leave."_

_"What"_

_"It's for the best, Bard. For everybody."_

_"Not for me" Bard objected. "And certainly not for you! What are you gonna do, Raven? Live the rest of you life alone"_

_"...If that's what it takes..."_

_Bard paced back and forth, searching futilely for words._

_"Why are you leaving" The words suddenly burst from his mouth. "You haveta to tell me the reason, at least."_

_His sister mumbled something._

_"What"_

_"I said...I've lost control. I can't control my emotions anymore."_

_"Why not" Bard wanted to know. "What reason could there be for you to be losing control"_

_"You're the reason, okay"_

_"Why? Because you finally admit to yourself that you love your brother? The only family you have left"_

_"Stop it..."_

_"What? Just because I've hit the truth doesn't mean"_

_"__**I SAID STOP IT"**__ Raven growled in a horrible voice that wasn't her own. The dark corner she had been standing in suddenly grew four, slanted, glowing red eyes. Raven, becoming a darkness even worse than the shadows themselves, lunged at him. Bard dodged out of the way and Raven fell before the light filtering in from the window. Bard braced himself, but when she looked back up, his sister was back to normal._

_"Goodbye, Jonny." She whispered, somewhere between shame and melancholy. "You were the truest man I've ever met."_

_"Raven! NO"_

_But it was too late: A blade of black telekinesis had already slashed her throat. Bard fell to his knees and cradled his sister's head and hugged her, weeping uncontrollably. And as the hot, sticky blood stained him..._

_He was an orphan once more, totally and utterly alone..._

"Well, it's certainly creepy enough." Beast Boy admitted.

They stood before a huge abandoned house on the outskirts of the suburban area of town. Windows were bordered up, any exposed metal had turned to rust and the yard was littered with debris and trash.

"I can't believe no one's moved in and fixed it up." Bard said speculatively, flicking ashes off his cigarette. "The foundation and structure still look pretty good..."

"It's a shit hole." Commissioner Walker grunted bluntly. "I can't believe the damn place isn't condemned yet."

"I like it..." Raven said.

"So...we going in or what" Cyborg asked them.

Holly led them up the cracked concrete of the walkway. When they stepped upon the wooden porch, it groaned in protest under their weight.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Bard asked, looking nervously at the wooden boards beneath his feet.

"I thought you weren't scared..." Holly suggested skeptically.

"I'm not! I just think that-"

"Yeah, yeah," Holly smirked and waved him silent. "Don't be a pansy! You comin' or are you afraid you're gonna piss your pants?"

Cyborg and Beast Boy snickered as Holly made her way up to the half rotted door.

"You're a bad role model." Bard said sourly to Commissioner Walker.

"You're no daisy yourself." He shot back around his own cigarette.

Holly reached out her hand towards the knob of the door to push it open and...

And it opened on its own with an eerie creaking.

"I've seen _waaaaay_ too many horror movies start this way, dudes..."

"Or Scooby-Doo episodes..." Cyborg added.

"This is going to be fun..." Raven contributed as she followed the rest of them inside.

Bard stood outside for a moment, alone. Finally, with a muffled, muttered curse, he threw away his cigarette and followed them in.

_Robin and the Apprentice stood near the edge of the cliff face overlooking the angry sea. It was dark, and the rain pummeled their faces as they glared at each other._

"_I'm going to give you one last chance, Beast Boy!" Robin yelled over the wind. "You know what Slade stands for! I was his apprentice once, and I got out! With your help! Now let me help you do the same!"_

"_You don't get it, do you, Robin?" The green skinned Apprentice shot back. "I'm not some lost, little boy waiting for someone to save me...I __**wanted**__ to be this way!"_

_Robin looked away for a moment, but when he turned his gaze back to the Apprentice, his stance was one of steely determination._

"_Then I have no other choice but to take you down like any other criminal!" He declared._

_The Boy Wonder ran forward, twirling his staff over his head. He leapt...and found that he was jumping at a slavering T-Rex._

"_Beast Boy..." The slits of Robin's eye mask widened in shock. "No..."_

_**WHAP!**_

_The dinosaur's tail whipped around and slammed into Robin's body, sending him plummeting off the cliff and down to the rocky sea below. The Apprentice returned to his human form, walked over to the very edge of the cliff and looked down._

_There was no one._

"_I wanted to be this way." He whispered again, spitting his overwhelming contempt down after his fallen ex-leader._

"_...I wanted to be this way..."_


	59. Screaming In Terror

"_You shouldn't be worried about his ass." - Commissioner Walker_

_**CHAPTER FIFTY NINE**_

_**SCREAMING IN TERROR**_

The inside of the 'haunted house' was very, very...dark.

"Um..." Beast Boy squeaked. "Am I the only one who can't see anything?"

Bard was the first to push back the darkness, humming and holding up a hastily made fireball. Cyborg and Commissioner Walker quickly followed suit with their flashlights, one taken from a long coat and the other emerging from a metal shoulder.

There was dust everywhere, making the cold air feel heavy and suffocating. Old furniture was covered by brown, once white sheets, vaguely giving away their true shape. Wispy curtains billowed subtlety and covered glassless windows. Wherever it felt weight, the wooden floor groaned and creaked hauntingly. The darkness was thick, and gave away on minimally to the light.

"You weren't kidding when you said this place was creepy." Cyborg said to Holly then.

The 'cowgirl' nodded.

"Anyone pissed their pants yet?" She asked.

Suddenly, Bard felt something on his shoulder. He looked down and saw a slimy, green, inhuman tentacle.

"AHH!" He screamed shortly. He turned and tossed the fireball.

**PHOOOSH!**

_"EEEEEKKK!"_

Beast Boy jumped out of the just in the nick of time. When he came up, he was beating the flames out of his fake black moustache.

"That answers _that_ question..." Holly smirked.

Meanwhile, Bard had conjured up another fireball to illuminate the darkness around him and whirled on Beast Boy, his long hair swooping intimidatingly down into his face.

"Don't you _ever_ do that again!" He grated at the Mario dressed changeling.

"Chill out, dude!" Beast Boy shrunk back. "Just a joke!"

"Yeah, Bard." Holly said slyly. "You weren't _scared_, were you?"

"Psssh! 'Course not!" Bard paused. "But don't go knockin' fear! It's built in to help keep you alive! Remember that!"

"There is a thin line between bravery and lunacy." Raven agreed with mutter. "Like going into my room."

Bard blinked.

"What's wrong with going into your-"

_"MWUHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" _The insane laughter carried hollowly through the house.

"What the hell was that?" Commissioner Walker demanded.

"This place really _is_ haunted..." Cyborg said, a little awed.

"C'mon, ya'll," Bard objected. "It's probably a tape recorder or somethin'."

Holly smirked again.

"Then you won't mind at all when we split up and me and you go looking for what laughed then, huh?" She asked him.

Bard opened his mouth-

"Heeeeeeeeellllo!" Beast Boy waved his skinny arms feverishly. "Have you never _seen_ a horror movie! We shouldn't split up! Don't you know that the good looking, funny, comic relief guy is always the first to go?"

"Then you shouldn't have anything to worry about." Commissioner Walker told him bluntly. "You're not funny and you're sure as hell aren't-"

_"Shhhhhaaaaaaarrrrreeeee myyyyyy paiiiiiiiiiiiin..."_

_Bard was hugging Raven on the roof of Titans Tower. His black cowboy hat lay meekly some feet away, and a lonely, forgotten cigarette smoldered forlornly._

_"You're all I care about, you hear?" The cowboy was whispering into his sister's ear. "You're my sister, and I want to know you. I love you."_

_Tears escaped from the eyelid prison Raven had constructed for them._

_"Bard...Jonny," she took in a shuddering breath. "I-I love you, t-" The dark sorceress suddenly fell to her knees, clutching her head._

_"Raven!" Bard half yelled in concern. "Are you okay?"_

_"J-j-j-just get away from me..." Her whisper drifted up to him, barely audible._

_"No, Raven." Bard told her firmly. "I've let you push me away too many times before! Well, I won't let you this time!"_

_"Get away from me..." Her voice was louder this time. Huskier._

_"I said no." Bard stooped to one knee and held her, gently wrapping her up into his arms._

_"And I said...__**GET AWAY FROM ME!**__" Raven's body suddenly rocketed up on tendrils of black, throwing Bard across the roof. She spoke in her own voice, Bard knew, but the cowboy also heard another voice overlaying it. __**His**__ voice..._

_"No..." Bard gasped under his breath. "Raven!" He called to her. "Fight back! It's me, Jonny!"_

_**"Raven's not here anymore..."**__ What had once been Raven's body was now twenty feet tall now. Not so much flesh as palpable darkness. Four glowing red eyes stared balefully at the cowboy._

_Bard's face turned hard._

_"Then it's woodshed time!"_

_He charged..._

Bard and Holly trudged down a broad, carpeted hallway, illuminated by the fireball the cowboy held over his head.

"So" Bard was saying. "What are we looking for again?"

"Whoever did that creepy ass laughing sound." Holly answered back.

"C'mon, Holly. You don't really believe in ghosts, do you?" The wrestling doppelganger scoffed. "Some kids from school told you about this place, right? I'd bet my bottom dollar that they're here, trying to scare us."

"I thought you weren't scared." Holly smirked at him...for what seemed like to the cowboy for a millionth time.

"I said _trying_."

They opened a creaking door into another room. From the looks of it, it had been a nursery. An old wooden cradle stood across from them, and various, dust covered old toys and dolls covered the floor.

"So you don't believe in ghosts?" Holly asked as they poked around.

"Well..." He paused. "I'll put it this way: I don't believe in ghosts...but if they _do_ exist, I reckon they don't have to go out of their way to prove it to me, ya know?"

Holly chuckled.

"You're such a pansy." She shook her head. "A damn adorable pansy, but a pansy all the same."

"What about you?" Bard shot back, red-faced. "Do _you_ believe in ghosts?"

"Hell no," she shrugged calmly.

Bard stared at her.

"Then why the hell are we looking for some?"

Holly grinned.

"'Cause I think you're sexy when you're scared."

"I already said I wasn't-"

"_Toooonnnight, yooooouuuuu wiiilllll knnnoooow feaaaaaaaar..."_

_"My name is Garfield and I have done horrible things."_

_The Apprentice, once known as the hero Beast Boy, flew over the devastated, dark city in the form of a green raven._

_"I have sworn to serve a dark master. I have obeyed his every command...and committed crimes in his name."_

_Below, the streets reverberated with the stomps of legions of androids; Slade's mechanical mercenaries, controlling the city with an emotionless brutality. An appartment building was burning off in the distance, and the faint wails of a child's cry reached the raven's sharp ears._

_"I have betrayed and attacked everyone who used to be my friend. One by one, I have destroyed the Teen Titans."_

_The memories came to the Apprentice with surprising, crytaline clarity:_

_Robin plummeting off a cliff to fall into the angry sea._

_Starfire's bone cracking in his literal bear hug._

_The last breath of life exploding out of Raven as he held her underwater in the form of an andaconda._

_Cyborg being impaled by the spiky tail of a stegosaurus._

_And Terra..._

_"And with no one left to stop me." The green raven swooped slightly to the left. "I have brought the city to its knees. My name is Garfield and I have done horrible things."_

_The raven let out a call that echoed back from the empty sky._

_"And I have absolutely no regrets..."_

Bard and Holly continued walking down the hallway, but the cowboy was muttering irratibly under his breath.

"What's wrong?" The Commissioner's daughter asked, complete innocence.

"Let's just get this over with." Bard said shortly. "You check that room and I'll check this room."

"All-" the hero had already stepped into the room on his side of the hallway and closed the door. "-Right." Holly finished lamely.

The girl went into her own assigned room, adjusting her cowboy hat. She wondered how Bard could wear something so damn heavy on his head all day.

The room she had entered was a large kitchen. The white tile of the floor and walls seemed to glow with a kind of creepy phophorance. Pots and Pans hung from the ceiling over a long counter in the middle of the room. Knives and other metal utensils gleamed eerily. There was a large, metal walk-in freezer on once side of the room, and Holly walked over and opened it-

"_AHHHHHHHHHHH!"_ She screamed, stumbling backwards and falling on her butt. Something meaty and bloody with two black eyes was staring at her...the head of a decapitated cow.

"Son of a bitch," she whispered to herself, taking in a deep breath to regain her composure and getting back to her feet. "Maybe _I'm_ the one who's the pansy." She thought about it. "Nah," she shook her head.

Nevertheless, she headed out of the room over to Bard's. Her nerves were still a little jittery and, besides, it was probably time to make up with the cowboy. She got the feeling that she had pushed him to far earlier.

"Bard!" She called as she opened the door to the room he had gone into.

The room was absolutely bare. Simply four walls and a floor. No place to hide whatsoever.

And Bard wasn't it.

"Bard!" Holly called again, a little louder this time. "Where are you?" She stopped. "C'mon, stop playing around! This shit isn't funny!"

Absolute silence...

"...Bard..." Her voice was timid and scared.

_Cyborg knew that something was wrong as soon as he awoke. The world around him looked like he was watching live video. That was nothing knew for his manufactured eye, but his human eye should never- His blood suddenly ran cold, or it would have, had he still possessed blood. He searched his body with cold, metal fingers...but he couldn't find a bit of flesh._

_"The repairs are now complete." Fix-It uttered. "You're human components have been replaced."_

_"I'm not human..." Cyborg's was electronical and absolutely emotionless._

_"Indeed" Fix-It replied. "You are now a greater being. Look for yourself." The humanoid creature turned and pointed with a guant hand towards a tall mirror._

_Dazedly, almost drawn to it, Cyborg found himself sitting up and slowly moving towards the mirror. He didn't want to see. He didn't want to see himself, what he had become. But he couldn't stop himself. With lurching steps, he put himself in front of the mirror and brought his two red eyes up to stare at his reflection._

_Sheen metal._

_Titanium skin._

_Blue, glowing circuitry._

_He could no longer feel heat or rain or his teammates ever again. He'd never be able to fill his nostrils with fresh air again. He'd never eat waffles or ribs or soda again. He'd never, never be human again._

_Defeated, he fell with a clank to his knees._

_He was a monster..._

Holly walked through the house holding a small flashlight out before her, totally alone. Bard had disappeared and she hadn't been able to find him anywhere. Though she tried not to admit it to herself...she was scared. She was alone in the dark with only a flashlight for company and, every once in a while, a haunting, whispering voice would echo through the hallways. Who wouldn't be scared?

Suddenly, a hand clamped down firmly on her shoulder from. She whirled around, brought back her fist and-

**WHAM!**

"Oof! Shit!" Commissioner Walker stumbled back from the blow. His heel caught on something and he dropped to the floor.

"Daddy?"

"It's nice to see you, too, honey." Walker muttered. "I knew it was a damn mistake to let you buy those metal knuckles..."

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, yeah," the Commissioner waved her off. "I ain't no pansy. Speaking of which, where's that male stripper?"

"He disappeared." Holly told her father. "He was with me one second and then poof! His ass was gone." She looked sad.

"Yeah, well," Commissioner Walker said gruffly. "You shouldn't be worried about his _ass_."

Holly blinked.

"Anyway, the same story goes for the rest of the brats." He continued. "All of them: Gone."

"What the hell is going on?" Holly demanded.

It was the Commissioner's turn to blink.

"...I was going to say that."

"..."

"..."

"Let's just find him, okay?"

"...Don't you mean 'them'?"

"Y-yeah..."

Commissioner Walker led the way, cursing under his breath.

Professor Chang paced back and forth in his lab, smiling and showing crooked teeth.

"I knew someone would come exploring this place on this night...but who would've thought it would be the Teen Titans?"

He reached into his lab coat and pulled out something.

"Dr. Crane was a brilliant individual." He continued his monologue. "Almost as brilliant as me. Can anyone guess what he invented?"

Bard, Raven, Cyborg and Beast Boy were gagged and tied down to flat tables, totally unable to reply.

Chang held up a cylindrical, metal cannister.

"Give up? Dr. Crane invented what is popularly know as fear gas. Of course, you may know him better as his other alias: Scarecrow." Chang smiled again. "But it really doesn't matter rather you know him or not, because in just a few minutes, you'll all be screaming in terror."

The bonds that held them to the tables was simply a thick, metal band that reached over their arms and torsos. Bard struggled mightily, trying to lift his boot up to his hand; trying to reach the switchblade knife he always kept there. But then he noticed that Chang had left and that yellow gas was filling the room. He tried to struggle harder, but it was too late.

Simultaneously, they all let out screams that were muffled by their gags.

_The hot blood that poured from Raven's throat seared and burned Bard's heart infinitely more than his chest. He held her close, hugging her. Refusing to let go of the only family he had left. And then suddenly, he felt it. It was like a warm, loving breeze flowing over him. And he knew exactly what is was:_

_Raven's soul._

_Escaping from the shell that had once been Raven's body._

_"NO!" Bard shrieked, reaching forth his bloody hands to somehow take hold of his sister's very essence. But of course, her soul self was as ungraspable as mist. The cowboy was wide eyed. He didn't know what to do. He walked back and forth across the room, shaking and shivering uncontrollably. Suddenly, he hit his knees, the tears coming from his eyes as steady as faucet._

_"Lord," He called out, forcing his trembling hands together. "Please! Take my sister! Bring Raven into your loving arms, your incredible domain! I-I know she wasn't...a believer. But her heart was good! Pure! It was all her father's fault! Don't let him win! Bring her up to you, where she belongs! Please, Lord, do it! Do it for me! Please..." He collapsed forward in exhaustion, sobbing uncontrollably. The presence of his sister's soul was gone._

_"Rise up,"_

_Bard's head jerked up, an impossible hope filling his heart._

_"Rise up, Bard."_

_The cowboy stared in utter shock. It was Amber. She was like a ghostly white shadow, and a majestic pair of wings adorned her back._

_"Y-you called me Bard?"_

_The angelic apparition of Amber nodded._

_"Indeed," she agreed. "Would you rather be known for your deeds as 'Jonny'?"_

_He couldn't answer that. Instead:_

_"W-where's Raven now?"_

_Amber looked back at him with a clear, unfaltering gaze._

_"Your sister is where unbeliever's belong."_

_"No! You have to have mercy on her! Her father-"_

_"Is yours as well. Contain your sorrow, and know that we are proud of you."_

_And she was gone._

_"No..."_

_**"Raven's not here anymore..."**__ What had once been Raven's body was now twenty feet tall now. Not so much flesh as palpable darkness. Four glowing red eyes stared balefully at the cowboy._

_Bard's face turned hard._

_"Then it's woodshed time!"_

_He charged, conjuring up a sword of pure ice in his hands. He leapt up and-_

_**WRAP!**_

_-was caught by a black tentacle. The sword feel to the roof and shattered into a hundred pieces. Bard struggled desperately to free himself, but he was helpless in Trigon's grasp._

_"No!" Raven was weeping somewhere in her own mind. "No, no, no, no!"_

_**"Tell me son...Where is your god now?"**_

_**SCHHITT!**_

_Another sharp, black tentacle emerged through Bard's back. He tried to grasp at where it entered his chest with his fingers, but his strength left him._

_"Don't...don't be sorry...Raven..." He whispered just before red blood shot out of his mouth like a geyser. His eyes rolled back into his head and he fell back, limply sliding off the black tentacle that had impaled him._

_And he was dead before he hit the ground._

Professor Chang sat in a room across from the basement/lab where he watched the Titans writhe and scream in terror through a one way mirror. His lips curled back to show his uneven teeth, silently voicing his joy at what he saw. With this chemical, he could show Jump City who was the _real_ bad boy in town...

**CRASH!**

Commissioner Walker kicked down the door leading into the room, brandishing his gun.

"Freeze, asshole!" He barked.

Professor Chang smirked crookedly at him.

"And if I don't?"

"Then I'll blow your god damned head clean off your shoulders with this .44 Magnum, ya son of a bitch!"

Chang didn't have anything to say to that.

Not long later, Professor Chang was in custody and Holly and her father had awakened the Titans from their terrified states...All except for Beast Boy.

His greatest fear wasn't finished yet.

_Terra stumbled along the rocky floor of the dark cavern. Her goggles were gone, her blonde hair was a mess and bruises, scratches and abrasions covered her face._

"_Beast Boy?" She called out weakly. "Beast Boy?"_

"_You were foolish to come here." The green skinned Apprentice stepped out of the shadows. "I defeated you, and you could have lived if only you had run."_

"_I've been running all my life!" The heroine retorted right back. "I'm through running."_

_The Apprentice looked away, his dark green eyes hard and distant._

"_You really should have run..." He murmured._

"_Didn't you hear what I just said? I'm through-" Terra suddenly stopped herself, understanding suddenly flooding into her blue eyes. "You...you wanted me to run, didn't you?"_

"_..."_

"_Oh my god...you did, didn't you?" Her face turned hard. "But why! Why would you kill all the others and leave me to live?"_

"_It doesn't matter now." The Apprentice said hollowly. "You squandered the one shred of mercy I had to give. Now...I have no choice but to kill you."_

"_No, Beast Boy! That's a lie! You always had a choice! You __**chose**__ to betray the Titans, you __**chose**__ to go with Slade and you __**chose**__ to kill everyone who ever truly cared about you!"_

"_SHUT UP!" The Apprentice screamed. He transformed into a ram and charged the girl. But surprisingly, she didn't even try to fight back or dodge out of the way. She simply hung her head and stood there._

_**BAM!**_

_The blunted horns of the ram smashed into her, slamming her into the wall of the cavern. The shockwave caused a huge slab of rock to fall from the ceiling...directly over her legs._

_Trapping her._

_Back in normal form, the Apprentice took his time in walking over to her._

"_You should have run when you had the chance..." He transformed into a gorilla and, with his big, meaty arms, picked up another slab of rock. He lifted it over his head, ready to crush Terra once and for all._

_The girl looked up at him, her eyes impossibly wide._

"_You...you love me, don't you?"_

_The gorilla hesitated. He still held the slab over his head, but he made no other move._

"_You know..." Terra sniffed. "I-I loved you, too..."_

_The gorilla's chest clenched. Her use of past tense wasn't lost to him._

_**I loved you, too...**_

"_**HRRAAUGHH!"**_

_The green gorilla smashed down the rock slab, silencing her forever._

"_**TERRA!"**_ Beast Boy screamed at the top of his lungs, bolting straight up from the infirmary bed. He was sweating bullets, shivering and shuddering horribly.

"Beast Boy," Starfire, now back in her regular clothes, said soothingly to him. She had been sitting patiently beside the bed. "You are undamaged now. I assure you that all you have just witnessed was-"

"No!" Beast Boy cut her off, rolling over and bringing his knees to his chest, still trembling. "I...I killed Terra! I killed her! And all the rest of you! I killed you with my own two hands!"

Starfire reached across the bed and softlyhugged the tiny changeling from behind.

"All that you saw, friend Beast Boy, is false. I am not dead, and neither have the other Titans ceased to exist. And Terra..." The Tammaranian paused. "You did not kill Terra. Terra sacrificed herself so that others could live. But most of all, I believe, for _you_ to continue living."

There was a long, sorrowful silence, but Starfire simply continued hugging Beast Boy's back.

"S-so, what I saw was-"

"An illusion caused by chemicals, Beast Boy. Only an illusion..."

Later on, Beast Boy had no idea how long he stayed awake, shivering at the dreadful reality he had experienced. All he knew was, that when he finally awoke from his unknowing sleep...Starfire was still holding him.


	60. Delusional Accusation

_"Well, if Nashville had let Hank Williams play the Grand Ole Opry, he'd still be the King of Country Music today, now wouldn't he?" - Bard_

_**CHAPTER SIXTY**_

_**DELUSIONAL ACCUSATIONS**_

"All right," Robin was saying, typing on the big computer in the lab of Titans Tower. "From the looks of it, the fear gas has run its course through you all."

Bard, Beast Boy, Cyborg and Raven were standing just beyond him, breathing a sigh of relief.

"But don't think you're out of the woods yet." The Boy Wonder cautioned them. "I know from experience that, just because the residual traces of fear gas are gone from your systems, that it still can't effect you. Delusions aren't uncommon. If you see or hear anything out of the ordinary, tell someone at once. Got it?"

Everyone nodded silently. The fears they had experienced the night before were still fresh in their psyches, and their memory made them a solemn group. Robin looked at them shrewdly, and then seemed to nod to himself.

"I'll leave you alone then."

No one answered as the caped crusader exited the room. After the 'swish' of the sliding door had finished echoing, silence fell between the four. All of them seemed lost within themselves.

"So," Bard finally said, the catch in his voice all the more obvious because of the total silence he was breaking. "...Anyone want to talk about it?"

No one answered.

"Anybody?"

Nothing but silence. His teammates wouldn't even look at him.

"What about you, Cyborg?" The cowboy tried on last time, singling him out.

Cyborg barely raised his head.

"You wouldn't understand." He murmured.

"Not if you don't explain it to me." Bard replied right back.

Cyborg looked up and stared at him for a moment. Finally, he sighed.

"My fear was...that I was turned into a robot."

Bard blinked.

"But you _are_ a robot..."

"NO!" Cyborg said it harshly, standing up and cutting the air with his titanium arm. "I'm not! I'm a hybrid: Half machine and half human. I am _not_ a robot!"

Bard and the others said nothing.

"But...I was when the fear gas kicked in on me." The half-breed continued. "Can you possibly imagine it? All metal. No flesh. Not being able to feel human touch or even the heat from the sunlight? Not being able to eat or drink? Having absolutely no emotions or sentient thought? Can you imagine that? Huh!"

"It sounds horrible." Bard suggested quietly.

"Well, it was." Cyborg sat down again, crossing his arms across his wide chest.

No one else saw fit to comment.

"Do you wanna talk about it, Beast Boy?" Bard prodded him then. He saw from the changeling's red eyes that he hadn't slept much. Hell, he suspected that none of them had.

Beast Boy couldn't even raise his head.

"I betrayed everyone who ever cared about me." He said solemnly, so uncharacteristic from the fun loving Beast Boy that Bard knew. "And especially the person that cared about me the most..." He brusquely wiped at his eyes and coughed. "I-I don't want to talk about it anymore..."

Bard nodded in understanding and looked over at his sister.

"Raven?"

"I don't want to talk about it." She said coldly and firmly. But Bard also noticed that she couldn't look at him.

"What about you?" Cyborg asked him. "Or is it true that cowboys aren't afraid of nothin'?"

Bard couldn't help it. Unconsciously, he turned his head to look at Raven...who was looking right back at him. The moment their eyes locked, he knew that Raven's fear had involved him. And at the same time, he knew that she was aware that _his_ greatest fear involved _her_.

"I don't want to talk about it, either."

"Careful," Cyborg said with a forced, weak smile. "Ya'll are starting to let out your family traits..."

No one laughed.

**BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!**

Suddenly, the room was filled with the stylized warning tone from their communicators. Cyborg pressed a button on himself and held the screen that appeared on his forearm up to his face.

"What's up, Robin?"

_"Bank robbery! First National!"_

"Got it!" Cyborg replied. "We'll be there as soon as possible!"

The Boy Wonder nodded at him via the screen.

_"Robin, out."_

"You heard the man!" Cyborg clapped his hands together, looking back up at them. "Titans, go!"

**SWISH!**

Speedy came into the room.

"What going on?" The archer asked. "Alarms are going off in the main room and-"

"Bank robbery," Cyborg answered him.

"Mind if I come along?"

Cyborg shrugged.

"The more the merrier. Titans, go!"

"If ya don't want to meet ya Maker, get your god damned heads down! Keep your eyes on the floor!" A ski-masked man barked.

To prove his point, he aimed his Uzi machine gun up at the ceiling and-

**RAT-A-TAT-RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT!**

Civilians screamed and covered their heads as debris rained down.

"Marty, Jeff!" The gunman turned back towards the back of the bank. "Are ya in the vault yet?"

"Just a sec," Marty, (or Jeff), called back. "We just finished setting the C-4!"

"Well blow that shit and let's go!" The leader turned to the other six men who were covering the civilians. "Don't get careless! The Titans will be here any minute!"

**BOOM!**

Civilians shrieked as the C-4 went off, blowing away the foundation of the vault door. The huge, metal door ponderously fell forward and smashed into the ground.

"All right!" The leader barked as his lackeys. "Get back there and fill up you packs! Hurry up!"

The men scampered back to the vault as he eyed the civilians evilly, daring them to move.

"Done!" Marty, (or Jeff), said, leading the men back to the front of the bank. All of them were wearing large backpacks.

"Keep you heads down!" The leader barked again at the cowering people on the floor. Then to his partners in crime"We're getting out of here! Follow me!"

They strode through the front door and out into the ivory fountain centered plaza. A huge crowd of curious citizens had ringed the place. It was typical human mentality.

_'So what did you do today?'_

_'Took a walk, got a bite to eat, watched a bank robbery. The usual.'_

"Shit! What do we do now?" One of the robbers asked.

"Just keep walking." The leader told them. "We have too much hardware for anyone to mess with us."

He was right. Their bulky black clothes gave mute evidence of Kevlar armor. All of them had pistols, the leader carried an Uzi machine gun and one particularly large guy in the back carried something of a cross between a bazooka and a rocket launcher.

"Don't you know that robbing banks is illegal?" Robin called out to them.

"It's the Titans!" Jeff, (or Marty), gasped.

Beast Boy smirked at Speedy.

"Someone always says that..."

"Raven!" Robin was saying. "Protect the crowd!"

The dark sorceress nodded.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

A black obsidian shield arced up over most of the crowd. But the strain of holding it up used up every bit of her strength. She stood there, legs braced, arms up, teeth grit and face sweating to maintain it. And she was a sitting duck.

"Speedy!" Bard said quickly to the archer. "Stay with her!"

The orange haired hero nodded at him, understanding completely.

"Titans, go!"

Between one running stride and the next, Robin produced a birdarang between his gloved fingers and tossed it at the nearest thug.

**SW-SW-SW-SW-CLANG!**

The thug gasped in surprise as the pistol was knocked from his hand, and then he looked up to see the bottom of Robin's steel tipped boot at the last second.

**WHAP!**

Meanwhile, the leader with the Uzi was concentrating on Cyborg.

**RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!**

**CL-CL-CL-CL-CL-CLINK!**

The bullets were simply bouncing off his metal chest.

"Don't you just _looooove_ titanium?" Cyborg grinned goofily.

"Make love to this!" The leader leapt out of the way, and the titanium titan found himself looking down the barrel of the bazooka/rocket launcher half-breed.

Cyborg's human eye dilated.

"Uh-oh..."

**BOOM!**

The missile hit him dead on in the chest, flinging him back like a rag doll until he hit Raven's black shield with sickening force. He fell hard to the ground, the circuits in his left shoulder sparking.

**SWOOSH!**

Superboy suddenly appeared in front of the bazooka/missile launcher carrier.

"Don't you know you're not supposed to play with guns?" He smirked as he reached out and crushed the end of the opening with one super powered hand.

The thug stared at the ruined weapon incredulously and did the last thing Superboy expected...He used it as a makeshift club.

**CLUNG!**

The Boy of Steel, unprepared for the attack, saw stars.

"Get back!" Beast Boy was yelling from across the plaza. "It's dangerous here! Go home!" He was trying to get the crowd to disperse, but no one would listen to him. Here was a chance to see the Titans up close and personal and no one was going to miss it.

Near the fountain, a thug raised his pistol and pointed it straight at Bard.

**PHOMB!**

The hastily made and tossed fireball forced the gun from the man's hand. The thug blew on his hand for a minute until he realized the cowboy was waiting on him. With a muffled grunt from behind his ski mask, he swung a roundhouse punch at him. Bard easily blocked it with his forearm and smashed the heel of his cowboy boot down onto the man's toes.

"Aiiiiiiiiieee!" He cried out in pain.

Bard shut him up with a methodically aimed adamantine uppercut to the bottom of the chin. Teeth flew as the man arced backwards and landed with a splash into the ivory fountain.

"Some words of advice," Bard smirked down at him. "Never, _ever_, mess with a cowb-"

He was interrupted by the unmistakable sound of a gun cocking from behind him.

**CL-CLACK!**

Bard clenched his eyes shut...

**SWWWWWW-THUMP!**

The cowboy turned around and saw his would be killer disarmed, holding his wrist painfully. From across the plaza, Speedy was grinning and waving at him. Bard waved back and then focused his eyes on the thug. His attempted murder was something he took personal. He spun, pivoted his hips and back kicked the robber in the temple with the heel of his cowboy boot. The man went down like a shot, twitching.

Not far away, Starfire floated in front of the Uzi toting leader, her hands glowing green with star bolts.

"Release your grip on your pain inflicting weapon!" She ordered him

Of course, the thug leader only raised his weapon and-

"Eeeeep!" Starfire shrieked. She flew away in a wide arc.

**RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!**

The leader followed her with the gun, spitting lead angrily at her.

**RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK!**

His eyes widened in fear and he hit the empty gun with butt of his palm, vainly trying to get it to work again.

**CLICK-CLICK-CLICK!**

"Bloody hell!" He spit out the curse. He quickly reached into his belt for another clip. As he fumbled, he saw that Starfire was flying back towards him...and that she was carrying something. When she was close enough, she dropped her load; a red, black and green load known the Boy Wonder.

The man doubled his speed. He finally got his hand on another clip of ammo and desperately tried to force it into the gun.

With uncanny, almost inhuman grace, Robin back flipped and brought his boots together, making his body a fleshy missile.

The thug leader finally got the clip into the gun. He pointed up the barrel, put his finger on the trigger and-

**WHAM!**

-was caught full in the face by two metal-tipped boots. Robin back flipped off him and landed in a sliding crouch...grinning.

"I _knew_ he enjoyed it." Speedy remarked to himself before setting a boxing glove arrow in his bow and taking out another thug.

Somewhat behind him, Bard was grappling with the big man who had been carrying the bazooka/rocket launcher earlier.

"That's right, Bard! Get him!" Someone from the crowd cheered him on.

"That's right!" Another onlooker agreed. "Show'em you can't break the law in Jump City and get away with it!"

As he and the big thug struggled, Bard allowed himself a quick glance at the crowd...and froze. He saw her. He saw _her!_

"Rauuuuggh!"

The big man took advantage of the cowboy's momentary distraction. He hoisted him up and tossed him a couple yards away.

"Don't worry, Bard!" A husky voice called out from the crowd. "I've got him!"

A man ran out into the plaza between one of the gaps in Raven's shield. He was a huge man with no neck, definitely the linebacker/pro wrestler type. But Bard knew he was in over his head here.

"No!" The cowboy raised a futile hand. "Get back!"

"Don't worry, cowboy! I've got him!"

But the thug was already lifting his gun at the citizen.

_If it was a blizzard, it would be a record breaking cold! _

Bard threw the chunk of ice as quickly as he could, but it was too late: The thug already had his pistol aimed.

**BANG! CLANK!**

The ice knocked the gun out of the thug's hand just a millisecond after the pistol discharged. The shot seemed to reverberate hauntingly across the suddenly silent square. The rest of the robbers were down for the count, and the other Titans stared on in shock and horror.

"ARGH!" Bard smashed the thug to the ground with a devastating, adamantine covered fist.

A muffled groan brought the cowboy out of his rage. The man who had run out was on the ground. The bullet had hit in his stomach, and blood stained through his shirt.

"What happened?" Robin demanded, running over.

"That man got shot!" Someone supplied from the crowd. "And it was all Bard's fault!"

The cowboy looked up at his accuser with stricken eyes.

_'What!'_

"Yeah," Someone else back the accusation up. "That guy was only trying to help! If Bard had done his job, he'd still be alive!"

"He's not dead yet!" Robin grated furiously between clenched teeth, leaning down next to the fallen man and stemming the blood flow with the palms of his gloved hands. "Someone, go call an ambulance!"

The crowd warbled nervously. No one wanted to leave yet.

"_NOW!_" Robin barked.

Bard, with dead, shocked eyes, looked back over the crowd. Most were staring at him accusingly, while others stared morbidly at the mortally injured man...

And _she_ was gone.

"What happened?" Robin asked Bard. They were alone in an alleyway near the bank.

"The guy just came running out of the crowd!" Bard defended himself. "The fool wanted to take the thug down himself! I tried to tell him to go back but-"

"What took you so long to bring him down?"

The cowboy looked at the Boy Wonder sharply. He hadn't been expecting that question.

"Well?" Robin pushed him for an answer.

"I-I thought I saw someone in the crowd." Bard stuttered. "Someone I knew."

"Who?"

Bard shook his head.

"It doesn't really matter, does it? She went missing a couple years ago. I thought she was..." He swallowed. "I thought she was d-dead, but"

Robin reached up and put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's the fear gas from last night." He told him seriously. "I told you that the side effects can be delusions, remember?"

Bard looked away. He wasn't ready to admit that what he was was a delusion.

"Bard." Robin went on. "An illusion has no power if you know it's not real." He paused. "For the next day or so, let the rest of us handle the city. At least until we're sure that the after effects have worn off."

The cowboy opened his mouth to object-

"That's an _order_." Robin cut him off. "Now go back to the tower and rest."

With a dramatic swirl of his cape, the Boy Wonder left him alone in the alley.

Bard paced back and forth for a few minutes, his mind working in overdrive.

Was it really his fault that a man was injured, maybe even fatally? The man shouldn't have tried to be the hero! It was stupidity! But then again, if he would have taken down the thug more quickly...

Bard shook his head, mad at himself. He couldn't stand here and keep second guessing himself. If he did, it would eventually drive him crazy. He wasn't a killer. He had done everything he could to help the man. He had made a mistake; a mistake he swore not to repeat.

But then his mind drifted to the face he had seen in the crowd. Had it been real? Was she really there? She seemed really enough with her silky black hair and light blue eyes that were watching him with pride. He swallowed the lump in his throat. Amber would be proud of him, wouldn't she? He had found his way to God, and he was helping others. He had become, or was trying to become, the man Amber had always known was hidden inside him.

Finally, he left the alley want went back on the street to get on his Harley. But there was a problem.

About twenty problems, actually.

Reporters and photographers were camped around his vehicle, smoking cigarettes and chatting among themselves. Talking about the big scoop. Finally, one of them looked up and spotted him.

"Bard! Bard!" He called.

"There he is!" Announced another. The swarming mass of the assorted members of the press clamored up to him, cutting off all escape routes.

"Tammie Johan, TBEP News." An attractive reporter quickly announced herself, shoving a microphone in his face as the flashes from cameras nearly blinded him, even with his glasses on. "What do you say to accusations by eye witnesses that you were responsible for Robert Gray's injury during the bank robbery earlier today?"

'_Robert Gray. So that was his name...'_

"I did everything I could to assure his safety." Bard replied, trying to work his way through them to his bike. "Citizens shouldn't try to stop violent crimes. That's what the police and the Titans are for."

"But if you would have apprehended the bank robber quicker," another reporter suggested. "Than Mr. Gray wouldn't be fighting for his life now, isn't that right?"

Bard's blood boiled beneath his skin, partly because he saw a shred of truth in the man's words.

"Yeah," He shot back angrily. "Well, if Nashville had let Hank Williams play the Grand Ole Opry, he'd still be the King of Country Music today, now wouldn't he?"

The media people blinked at him, and Bard took the opportunity to weave himself through them and straddle his bike.

"One last question, Bard!" An brown haired reporter said beseechingly, shoving a microphone into his face. "Will you be resigning from the Teen Titans?"

The cowboy stared at him. His teeth grated together. His face turned red. He was about to tell the man exactly what he could do with his microphone...when he saw her again. Quick as lightning, Bard stood up for a better look. It was her!

"Out of my way!" He ordered, bulling his way though the reporters and photographers. He inadvertently knocked down the brown haired reporter who had asked him about resigning in his haste. But when he got beyond the crowd, Amber was gone.

_'A delusion?'_ He asked himself.

"Oh my God!" The brown haired man shrieked. "Did you see that? He just attacked me! I could have been killed!"

Though Bard didn't think the man deserved it, he reached down his hand to help him up.

"No!" The reporter slapped away his hand. "You're a danger to the city! Vincent Caprell is going to bury you! Do you hear me? I'm going to bury your ass!"

Bard straddled his Harley and started the engine.

"I'm going to run you out of this town!" Vincent Caprell rambled on, yelling above the motorcycle's loud motor. "You're no better than Slade or Brother Blood!"

**VRRRROOOOM!**

Bard left him behind, but his words, stuck in the cowboy's head, would be much harder to lose.


	61. Losing It

_"Of course, I'm real. But why don't you kiss me and find out" - Amber_

_**CHAPTER SIXTY ONE**_

_**LOSING IT**_

Speedy and Superboy stood at the foot of Titans Tower.

"I hate to leave when...so much is going on." Speedy was saying cautiously to the Boy of Steel. "But-"

"You have responsibilities elsewhere." Superboy finished for him. "I swear, it was a good idea for you to dress up as Robin. The two of you sound just alike sometimes."

Speedy's eyebrow raised, making on of his eye slits bigger than the other.

"Really?"

"Yeah," Superboy nodded. "Only the stick's not shoved quite so far up your ass."

Both boys had a good chuckle at that.

"I was wrong." Superboy said then. "You're not more irritating than Bard."

"Thanks," Speedy smirked, but then his face turned serious. "He seems like a good guy." The archer paused. "Do you think he's going to be okay? The media's trying its best to make him look as bad as possible."

Superboy shrugged.

"The cowboy's tough." He told him. "If worse comes to worst, he'll challenge'em all to a rodeo or somethin'."

"Yeah..." Speedy blinked. "Well, thanks for welcoming me inside the tower."

"And thanks for-" Superboy's lips contorted as if what he was about to say meant death. "Thanks for, ya know, helping me, just a little bit...back in Metropolis."

"No problem," Speedy winked at him from behind his eye mask as he got onto his red and yellow motorcycle. "The next time a clone's using Kryptonite on ya, give me a call"

"Stop being irritating and get outta here."

Speedy laughed, started the engine and headed on his way.

_"Welcome back to TBEP News Tonight, your news network for trusted, dependable journalism. For those of you just joining us, earlier today, the Teen Titans foiled a robbery at the First National Bank. The suspects were dressed in Kevlar body armor and carried automatic weapons. As of yet there's no word on how they obtained their equipment. They were taken into custody, but the main story is the speculation of Bard's, one of the newest Teen Titans, involvement in the shooting of Mr. Robert Gray. We now take you live to the field, where our very own Vincent Caprell is with an eyewitness. Vincent?"_

_"Thank you, Bill. I'm standing here with Miss Jenny Waker, who witnessed the shooting this morning. Isn't that right, Miss Waker?"_

_"Yes sir, it is. I couldn't have been standing more than ten feet away from it, I bet."_

_"Can you tell us, and the viewing audience watching at home, exactly what you saw?"_

_"I sure can. The cowboy fella-"_

_"Bard-"_

_"Yes, Bard. He was fighting with one of the robbers when, all of sudden, he looks out at the crowd. Like he's ogling some woman or somethin'. And the next thing you know, the robber picks him up and tosses him like he don't weigh nothin'! It was obvious he wasn't gettin' the job done, so a brave soul from the crowd-"_

_"Robert Gray,"_

_"Robert Gray, may God bless'em, he runs out to take down the robber himself. But the robber pulls a gun out of nowhere and shoots him point blank! And all because Bard can't get the job done! I swear, I don't know what's gotten into the Titans these days. First they let Terra on the team, and now this guy? I just hope that Superboy is everything he's cracked up to be..."_

_"Thank you, Miss Waker. It seems to me that Bard may very well have a man's death on his head, since city doctors have reported that, at the moment, Mr. Robert Gray is unconscious and still in the emergency room. So, who is this mysterious Bard? Savior or killer? Back to you, Bill."_

Bard sat on the couch in the main room of Titans Tower, numbly watching the broadcast. The images of the television were reflected off his dark glasses, but they were even clearer in his mind. Starfire and Beast Boy sat in the kitchen, watching the cowboy with worried eyes. A moment later, Robin walked into the room, took one quick glance at Bard and walked over to them.

"He's still watching the reports?" He asked them.

"Yeah, dude." Beast Boy nodded lethargically. "He looks like a complete zombie over there."

"How long has it been now?"

"Somewhat in excess of three earth hours, Robin." Starfire answered.

The slits of Robin's eye mask narrowed.

"Why don't you two go down to the lab and see if Cyborg needs any help in fixing his shoulder?" He suggested to them. "I'll talk to Bard."

"Are you sure that is wise, Robin?" Starfire's green eyes were worried. "Bard is very much independent and-"

"Don't worry about it, Star." Robin held up a gloved hand. "I know what I'm doing. Go ahead now."

Starfire and Beast Boy quietly left the room. If Bard noticed, he gave no inclination.

_"Next up, we have an TBEP News exclusive interview with Shelly Gray, Robert Gray's sister. But first, we take you to a press conference with Commissioner Walker who-"_

**CLICK!**

Robin walked over, picked up the remote and turned off the television.

"I was watchin' that." Bard protested emotionlessly, not looking at him.

"I know,"

"Turn it back on."

"No," Robin shook his head. "You did this once for me, remember? Back when Crimson Wolf was loose in the city. Do you remember what you told me then?"

"You said: 'There ain't no reason for you to be punishin' yourself. It wasn't your fault.'" Robin said, badly imitating the cowboy's southern accent.

Bard didn't laugh.

"It really wasn't your fault, Bard." Robin went on seriously. "If it was anyone's fault, it was mine. I should have never let you leave the tower in your condition."

"Look, why don't you go get some sleep? Between last night and the...situation today, I know you must be tired..."

"Do you remember what you said at this point of the conversation?" Bard asked suddenly.

Robin blinked from behind his eye mask.

"You said: 'I'd only dream about it. The reality is bad enough, I don't need nightmares to add to it.'"

The Boy Wonder didn't know how to reply to that. But it didn't really matter anyway, since Bard stood up without a word and coldly stepped out of the room into the dark hallway before he could answer.

"Are you going to be all right, friend Cyborg?"

"I'll be fine, Star." Cyborg grit his teeth as he used the blow torch emitting from his right finger to work on his left shoulder. "I just need a little touch up. To tell you the truth, I'm more worried about Bard." He nodded briefly towards the small television on the counter that was broadcasting the news.

"I know, dude!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "They're treating him like a dog! It's almost like he pulled the trigger himself!"

"And what is worse," Starfire added sadly. "Is that Bard has been viewing it ever since his return."

Cyborg shook his head incredulously, shutting off his blow torch finger and closing the protective blue shell over the circuitry in his shoulder.

"How can he?" He asked. "They've been beating his name with a stick! They've called him everything short of the devil! That Vincent guy was even comparing him to Slade and Brother Blood!"

Starfire wrung her hands.

"I-I believe our friend agrees with the evil things they have spoken about him."

"He does" Robin told them, walking in to join the three of them. "The media's totally convinced him that it's his fault."

"No way, dude!" Beast Boy shook his head emphatically. "No way Bard believes the crap they're spoutin' about him!"

"I know, Beast Boy." Cyborg said slowly. "But...it does look pretty bad."

Robin, Beastboy and Starfire stared at him.

"Have you seen the video tape of it?"

Beast Boy shook his head.

"I didn't know they had one."

Cyborg nodded.

"There was a surveilance camera out there. And it got a good shot at what was going on." He took in a breath. "Bard had the guy by the shirt; had him exactly where he wanted them. And all of a sudden, he looks out at the crowd for some reason. And, well, ya'll know the rest."

"Did the cassette show what friend Bard was looking at?" Starfire asked.

"I recorded it up here." Cyborg tapped the metal part of his head. "And I looked at it a couple of times. But I didn't see anything special. Just normal citizens."

Robin's eyes narrowed.

"You recorded it?" He asked. "And you can play it back?"

"Sure," Cyborg shrugged. "I'd just have to hook myself up to the Titans computer and-"

Robin was already turning to Starfire.

"Star, I need you to go get Bard."

"What for?"

"...I want to find out...if what he saw was real."

Bard didn't know where he was going...and he didn't care. His steps were as mechanical as his heartbeat as he trudged through the intricate, winding hallways of Titans Tower. He had felt this way before...and not too long ago at that. It was when he had seen all those horrible images in Tim's diseased mind. Zillah had comforted him then, but she wasn't here to do it again now. And what was worst, the images he had seen then had been fantasy...the ones that swirled in his head now were all too real. And they had a name, a face, and even a family.

_Robert Gray._

Bard didn't know the man, but he reckoned he knew his type. He was the big, strong, and not quite bright type. But he was a man who wanted to do good. The cowboy doubted that he got involved for any kind of glory, but because he truly believed that a Teen Titan needed help when the thug tossed him. And that's what made it all the worse.

He _knew_ Vincent Caprell was a liar with a chip on his shoulder, just a shady, arrogant reporter looking for a story to further his own 'legend'. A man who had glorified the terroist Crimsom Wolf. But he couldn't dispute his words about him.

"_So, who is this Bard? Savior or killer?"_

Bard sighed. If only he knew how valid that argument really was...

Jonny and Bard, while living in the same body, were starkly different people.

"Jonny..."

Bard's head jerked up. That couldn't have been her, could it?

T-T-T

"Bard" Starfire said when she saw him. "Please come with me. Robin wishes"

T-T-T

"-It's so good to see you!" Amber gushed, tears in her eyes.

"I-is it really you?" Bard said with wide, disbelieving eyes. He quickly put his metal knuckles in his pocket and reached out with both hands to cup her face.

T-T-T

"I-I believe you are mistaken, Bard. Perhaps-"

T-T-T

"Of course, I'm real." Amber grinned impishly. "But why don't you kiss me and find out?"

Bard grined right back, closed his eyes and brought his lips to hers..

And God did it feel good. Reluctantly, he broke the kiss and opened his eyes...and found himself looking into emerald eyes.

_Emerald!_

"St-Starfire!"

**WHAM!**

"Oof!"

The air was forcibly pushed out of Bard's lungs as Robin leapt out of nowhere and kicked him right in the chest with his steel laced boots.

"What are you _doing!_" The Boy Wonder demanded, red faced and angry.

Bard struggled to get his breath back from his spread eagled position on the hallway floor.

I-I thought..." He coughed. "I thought she was-" Bard couldn't finished before he breathed in some more oxygen.

"Another delusion?" Robin asked him.

Weakly, Bard sat up and nodded. He wasn't sure what had sapped his strength more: Robin's martial art kick, or the realization that it was Starfire, not Amber, who had been standing before him. Probably the latter.

"...Sorry" Robin muttered. He reached forth a gloved hand and helped the cowboy to his feet...and then the three of them just stood there.

Starfire's face was red and her eyes were downcast. Robin looked like he wasn't sure whether to hug Starfire or kill the cowboy. And Bard looked away, knowing that he caused all this. You could cut the tension in the air between them with a knife.

"Yo!" Cyborg called for them from up the hallway. "Ya'll comin' or what?"

"R-right," Robin stammered, walking away and waving a hand at them to follow.

Starfire and Bard silently did that.

"All right," Bard said with his arms folded across his chest as he looked at the blank monitor. "What are ya'll wantin' me to look at?"

"Cy recorded the video off the surveillance camera at the bank." Superboy supplied helpfully. For once, he didn't have a smart remark for the cowboy...and everyone knew why.

Bard cringed. He didn't really have any desire to watch it again. Living through it had been bad enough.

"Yeah," Cyborg shot a smirk at him. "Remember? I'm the walkin', talkin' butt whoppin' digital camera!"

Bard forced out a halfhearted smile.

"I want you to look at the crowd closely." Robin was telling him. "I want to find out whether what you saw was a delusion or not."

Bard felt a glimmer of hope come alive deep inside him. Maybe seeing Amber in the crowd wasn't a delusion from the after affects of the fear gas after all! Maybe she really had been watching him...and seen what he had become; what he was trying to stand for now.

But as Bard watched the freeze frame of the video where he had looked out at the crowd, that hope died. Amber wasn't in the crowd. No one even resembling her was in his line of sight. He sighed.

"She's not there." He murmured. "She was never there."

A man's life was in jeopardy because of a figment of his imagination.

Later on, the Titans were gathered in the main room and-

"I could give less than a damn about what you do on your own time, ass clown! But in the middle of beating down some bank robbing jerk offs is _not_ the time to be checking out skirts!"

-on the monitor via video phone was, who else, Commissioner Walker.

"Give him a break, dude!" Beast Boy interceded for the cowboy. "He's still recovering from that fear gas stuff!"

Commissioner Walker sighed.

"I know, I'm a bitch. It's just that I'm up to my eyebrows in this shit! The media's jumped all over you, cowboy! They're concocting a damn witch hunt!" His eyes narrowed. "I know it wasn't your fault, though, simply because that pee drinking, ass kissing, flaming bastard, self-serving son of a bitch who smells like shit-"

"We get the picture." Raven droned.

"-vomit face looking Vincent Caprell started all this up! May he burn in hell."

Suddenly, the Commissioner looked to his left.

"What are you doing? Hell no! This is police business and I ain't-"

"Screw that!"

"Oof!"

Walker was shoved off screen to be replaced with Holly smiling face.

"Hi, Bard."

The cowboy blinked.

"Um, howdy..."

"I know what they're saying about you on the news is all lies." She assured him before her face brightened with an idea. "Hey! Want me to go down there to the news station and kick Caprell's ass? I can do it!" She held up her hands that were still covered with the metal knuckles she had worn when she was 'Bard'.

"Uh, I don't reckon that'll really be-" Bard stopped.

"The Jonny I knew would never run from me." Amber purred at him.

"Bard?" Holly was asking him. "Is something wrong?" A pause. "Bard?"

"...Tell me something, Holly...who all do you see in this room right now?"

Holly looked around.

"Just you and the other Titans." She shrugged.

"...That's all? No one else?"

Holly slowly shook her head.

Without another word, Bard took one last look at 'Amber' and retreated down the hallway towards him room before anyone could stop him.

"..."

"..."

"What the hell is his problem?"

Bard sat on the very edge of his bed, shivering and shaking with his face in his hands. He was losing it. Seeing stuff that wasn't there...seeing her. How long was the after affects of the fear gas going to last? Bard wasn't sure _he_ could last much longer... He had no idea how things could get worse.

**KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!**

_Hell, I should have known..._

"Who is it?" He demanded gruffly, his voice muffled by his hands.

T-T-T

"It is me, Starfire. May I please come in? I wish-"

T-T-T

"You know who it is" Amber's voice came through the door. "Let me in, Jonny..."

"NO" Bard shrieked at the door. "You're not real! Leave me alone!"

T-T-T

"But friend Bard! Surely you do not think-"

T-T-T

"Let me in, Bard!" Amber pleaded. "Please! I know you want to be with me!"

"I said _leave me ALONE!_" Bard picked up the nearest object, the alarm clock on his bedside table, and chucked it as hard as he could at the door.

**CRASH!**

The electronic hit dead on and smashed into dozens of pieces. Outside, Starfire/Amber left. Inside the room, Bard could feel his sanity slipping. Desperately, he hit his knees, put his elbows on his bead and began to pray like a man about to die.

And all the while, Amber sat on the couch across the room from him, watching her beloved cowboy with light blue eyes.


	62. Not So Gray

_"Tell me, have you ever been to a woodshed?" - Bard_

_**CHAPTER SIXTY TWO**_

_**NOT SO GRAY**_

Bard had no idea how long he prayed, but he felt a little better after he had finished. All and all, though, his nerves were still shot to hell. And he only knew one way to fix that. He looked around, making sure he was 'alone' and cautiously headed out the door into the hallway. He didn't feel up to seeing any of his friends or, even worse, seeing any of his friends and thinking they were _her_. He knew he was going to have to settle things with Starfire sooner or later...but right now, his vote was on later. He didn't have the strength for it right now. As soon as he hit the roof, he lit up a cigarette and inhaled deeply.

_That's better..._

"I was wondering how long it would take for you to come up here."

Bard started, smoke bursting from his nostrils.

"I can hardly concentrate with all the emotions boiling inside you." Raven continued. "Doubt, self pity, anger, guilt, fear...even with your cross pendant, it's dangerous for you to let your emotions get so strong."

"I'm just goin' through a rough stretch right now..." Bard murmured lamely around his cigarette.

"...Robin went through a similar experience as what you're going through now." Raven told him. "It almost killed him."

"How did he beat it?"

"He realized a truth about himself."

Bard looked at her questioningly.

"He realized that there will always be an enemy hidden in the shadows of his mind."

Bard nodded thoughtfully, exhaling smoke.

"What do I have to learn about myself?" He said softly, mostly to himself. Suddenly, he looked back at his sister. "Have you...talked with Starfire lately?"

Raven nodded.

"Did she tell you-"

She nodded again.

Bard sighed.

"Great..." He breathed out along with second hand smoke. "She ain't too mad at me, is she?"

Raven blinked at him.

"This is Starfire we're talking about. I have a creeping feeling that she'll forgive you."

"She has a good heart." Bard agreed.

Silence...

"Ya know," Raven said finally, tentatively. "There was a time when Starfire-"

"Yeah, yeah," Bard waved off the comment.

"Well, I hope you feel better-"

"Why Raven..." The cowboy grinned half heartedly at her. "What a sisterly thing to say!"

"-so your emotions won't interrupt my meditation." Raven finished.

"...Never mind."

Smirking slightly, she left him alone.

Bard felt a little better after their conversation. To an outsider, the conversations he had with his sister would be seen as cold and reserved...But they didn't know the dark sorceress like he did. Even with the coldest of remarks, the cowboy could read her eyes, watch her facial expressions and...read between the lines, so to speak. She always hinted at what she really wanted to say...not very much, of course, but it was there.

The cowboy looked back out over the watery horizon, absently flicking ashes from his cigarette. Suddenly, the compulsion hit him. He didn't know where it came from, but he knew it was right. He had to make sure Robert Gray was all right; to see the rise and fall of breath entering and leaving his body with his own two eyes.

For once, he didn't go back downstairs through the tower to get to his bike in the garage. He wasn't up to seeing his friends right now, not in his condition...And especially not Starfire.

Throwing away his cigarette and humming under his breath, invisible winds picked him up and pushed him towards the city.

**KNOCK! KNOCK!**

Robin looked up from the bank surveillance camera tape that he'd been rewatching, in it's entirety, alone in his dark room.

"Who is it?"

"It is me, Starfire." The Tamaranian answered from beyond that door. "May I beseech you to allow me entry, Robin?"

"Of course, come in."

**SWISH!**

The door slid aside and she floated into the room. Robin's caped back was to her, and she looked over his shoulder to look at the television monitor he was watching.

"Why are you watching the re-enactment again?" She asked him.

"I want to make sure I have all the facts." The Boy Wonder answered her. "I've also done some extensive research into Robert Gray."

"The man whom was damaged? Do you suspect the man of 'playing the foul'?"

Robin shook his head.

"For once...I don't. But one can never be too careful."

"I-indeed." Starfire nervously wrung her hands together. "I...I wish to apologize."

Robin looked at her for the first time since she'd entered his room.

"What for?"

"Well..." She fidgeted, her eyes downcast. "Bard and I shared a k-kiss today that you were witness to and-"

"There's no reason to apologize to me." Robin waved her off.

Starfire blinked her emerald eyes.

"It's not like you had anything to say in the matter." Robin went on. "Bard, in his delusional state, of course, forced himself on you."

"B-but in all technicality, that would be a physical impossibility. I am many times stronger than Bard and-"

"But he surprised you. I mean...you didn't know he was going to do it...did you?"

"..."

"..."

"N-no, of course not." Starfire paused. "Who is the 'Amber'?"

"I asked him that myself." Robin told her. "All he said was that she was someone he once knew...I think he kept his answer vague on purpose. Even if I wanted to track her down, I wouldn't have much to go on. I'm sure there are thousands of Ambers in the southeast of the United States."

"I find that I am almost jealous of the girl..."

Robin did a double take at her.

"What?"

"I mean to say...she knew him before he arrived here. When he was the boy 'Jonny' and not the super hero 'Bard'. I wonder what 'Jonny' was like."

"I'm not sure if you would have wanted to know him then." Robin shook his head. "He had past connections to Slade, remember?"

"You think he was a villain?"

"I think he was on the wrong side of the law."

The tape, almost forgotten, showed Bard walloping a bank robber with his adamantine covered fist...fighting for justice.

"W-what do you think made him change?" Starfire asked.

"There are any number of things that can change a man, but if I had to bet, I would go with the most powerful one I know of."

Starfire cocked her head to the side, her eyes questioning.

"What else?" Robin grinned. "A woman, of course."

Bard stood in front of the main desk inside the Jump City Hospital.

"Excuse me, ma'am." He said politely to the woman behind it, briefly bringing two fingers to the brim of his hat. "I don't reckon you could direct me to the room Robert Gray is in, could you?"

The woman looked at him like he was a criminal. And the worst part was, he knew from past experience exactly what that look was: A mixuture of fear, dread and apprehension.

"Look here," he said as patiently as he could. "I'm Bard. I'm a Teen Titan and a member of the law enforcement community. You can tell me his room number."

"R-room seventy five." The woman looked as if she were getting ready to bolt.

"What floor is that on?"

"S-second floor, sir."

The cowboy sighed as he left her alone and went on his way. He was sure that, after the initial 'shock' had worn off, she'd be calling all her family and friends and telling them about her near death experience.

Sure, Bard felt guilty for what had happened, but he knew he wasn't a criminal. A negligent superhero, perhaps, but not a criminal...Not anymore, anyway.

He reached the elevator and hit the button.

**DING!**

The doors slid open and Bard groaned inwardly. He briefly considered shooting himself with his laser pistol...or, even better, the man before him.

"What are you doing here?" Vincent Caprell demanded of him.

"...I'm here to see Mr. Gray."

"Why?" The reporter sneered. "So you can finish the job?"

Bard's jaw clenched and his hands balled up into fists. He leaned his weight forward-

"Uh, uh, uh!" Caprell chided him with a wave of his finger. "You've already lost most the reputation you ever had. What do you think attacking a distinguished person of the Media would do to it now?"

Reluctantly, Bard controlled himself and stepped into the elevator with him. The sooner he could get to his floor and get away from this pompous ass, the better. But, of course, the reporter wasn't going to make it that easy. He reached into his coat and brought out a tape recorder.

"Bard," Vincent Caprell asked, making sure his recorder was on. "Do you feel your actions, in any shape or form, caused Robert Gray's injury...or even possibly his death?"

Bard glared at him.

_Bias, much?_

"No comment," he grated from between gritted teeth. He paused. "Aren't you predicting his death a little _early_?"

"A good reporter must cover all possibilities." He said pompously...probably mostly for the recording. "Even unfortunate possibilities."

"How 'bout covering the possibility that he's going to pull though?"

"..." Vincent blinked.

"That's what I thought..." Bard muttered.

"We all hope Mr. Gray will live through this trauma." The reporter covered himself. "But, either way, he will always have physical and emotional scars caused by your negligence."

"..." Bard couldn't answer that.

"Do you have anything to say to the family and friends of Mr. Robert Gray?" Caprell held up the recorder again.

A 'no comment' was on the cowboy's lips, but then he thought better of it.

"As a matter of fact, _Vincent_, I do." Bard paused, collecting his thoughts. "Though Mr. Gray's actions were misguided and foolhardy in attacking an armed criminal, his heart was in the right place. The city would benefit greatly if more citizens had his courage and compassion. And-" Bard stopped, not sure if he wanted to say it. Caprell was going to love this... "And, I apologize that I was not in the right frame of mind to use all my abilities to bring down the criminal fast enough. There should have been no reason why Mr. Gray should, or would even had the opportunity, to get involved."

**CLICK!**

The reporter clicked the 'stop' button on the recorder, grinning gleefully. He now had a sound byte for the evening news.

"Tell me," Bard asked him, his tone deceptively mild. "Have you ever been to a woodshed?"

Vincent's face scrunched up.

"Huh?"

**DING!**

Bard stepped out of elevator and turned around, blocking the reporter's way.

He smirked.

"Always nice talking to you, slick."

He hit the button and-

**DING!**

"Hey!"

-and closed the doors of the elevator before Caprell could step out.

Then, half skipping, Bard went down the hall, trying to smile and whistle a tune under his breath all at the same time.

Robert Gray's hospital room wasn't hard to find...mainly because of the guard sitting at a makeshift desk just next to the door.

"Bard," the uniformed man behind the desk said when he saw him, standing up and holding out his hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Patrolman Anthony Murphy."

Bard blinked. This wasn't exactly the kind of reception he'd been expecting. Hestiantly, he took off the admantine knuckle from his right hand and shook his outstretched hand.

"N-nice to meet you, too..." He paused. "I'm a little surprised that you're happy to see me here...all things considered..."

"You made a mistake." The patrolman replied. "Who hasn't? You're not the killer that bastard Caprell is trying to make ya out to be, I know that much."

The cowboy grinned at him.

"You sound like a smart man."

"I just know what I see." Murphy shrugged.

"So," Bard said then. "How's Mr. Gray doing?"

"Good,"

Bard did a double take at the patrolman.

"Good?"

Murphy laughed.

"You don't actually believe what the media's sayin', do ya?" He smiled at the cowboy. "They've damn near convinced the public that Mr. Gray's gonna die before the day is out. The real truth, though, it that the doctor's are 'cautiously optimistic'. Which pretty much means that he'll be okay, unless something unforeseen happens."

"That's the best news I've heard in a long time."

"That don't surprise me if you've been watching the news channels." Murphy told him. "They never report good news...mostly because it doesn't get ratings. Most of the time when you Teen Titans stop some crime or another, the main focus is how much property you and your teammates tore up in the process and how much money it'll cost the taxpayers."

Bard winced.

"I wonder if it's too late to get into vigilantism..."

Murphy laughed again. After a moment, he said:

"So, you want to see Mr. Gray?"

"...You'd let me do that?"

"Of course." The black cop looked at him, concern in his eyes. "No matter what the media says, you're one of the good guys. Don't forget that."

Bard took in a deep breath and nodded.

"Crap!" Murphy said suddenly, bringing a hand up to smack himself in the forehead. "I have to get Mr. Gray's permission before I can bring anyone in to see him." He stepped over to the door to the hospital room.

"You mean he's awake?"

"He was the last time I checked." The patrolman shrugged. "Be right back." He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.

Bard heard the muffled sound of their talking, but he couldn't catch any words. But then quite clearly:

_"Bard's here? __**The**__ Bard? Hell yes I'll see'em! Bring the cowboy in here! Hey, are you still here? Go get'em already!"_

Patrolman Murphy looked a little flustered when he walked back out into the hallway to Bard.

"Um..." He took off his police cap and scratched at his short black hair. "I-I think he might want to see you..."

"Thanks," Bard patted the man's shoulder.

"Just don't let him get too worked up." Murphy told him.

Bard nodded and quietly shut the door. Inside the room, he awkwardly stood just inside the door, his eyes looking around the room.

"Don't be shy now, cowboy!" The man on the hospital bed told him. "You're the celebrity here, man, not me!"

Bard smiled thinly.

"I'd say we're both celebrities now." He said back. "The names 'Bard' and 'Robert Gray' are the only two your hear on the news nowadays."

"Hmph, the news." Robert snorted. "I never watch it. Nothing but liars and scum."

Bard grinned genuinely.

"I reckon I could agree with that, Robert."

"_Robert?_" He sat up, then winced as he clutched the wound on his stomach. Bard came over to help, but the man waved him off. "My name is _not_ Robert. It's Robbie!"

"All right," Bard smiled. "You don't really look like a 'Robert', anyway."

The cowboy's face grew serious. He took off his hat and sat himself down in a chair next to the hospital bed.

"Look, Robbie." He said, his face downcast. "I want to apologize-"

Robbie blinked.

"Apologize for what?"

"Well, if I had been able to take down that bank robber faster, you'd've never been hurt and..."

"Yeah, well," Robbie shrugged. "If Randy Travis hadn't come to Nashville when he did, country music as we know it would be dead."

It was Bard's turn to blink...several times.

"...You've got a point." He shook his head, chuckling incredulously. "You're a smart, courageous fella...with a great taste in music...but from now on, I need you to leave the crime busting to super heroes and policeman, all right? You're a big, strong guy and I'm sure you can take care of yourself, but you're not trained to deal with criminals, hear?"

Robbie nodded solemnly, but then his face brightened.

"I should be a cop!"

That certainly took the cowboy by surprise.

"What?"

"You said it yourself!" Robbie exclaimed. "I'm big and strong. With the right training, I could so some real good! I should be a cop." He paused. "Hey, you know the Commissioner, right? Could you do me a favor and put in a good word for me?"

"...Yeah, I can do that. I reckon you would be a good cop. When you get a chance, why don't you talk to Murphy outside? I'm sure he could give some pointers-" He stopped as an idea hit him. "Say...have you talked with any reporters?"

"Hell no," Robbie shook his head. "I don't talk to scum like Vincent Caprell."

Bard grinned.

"You'll want to talk to him this time. Here's what we'll do..."

Robbie leaned forward in his bed, listening. And before long, he was grinning, too.

Vincent Caprell cursed Bard's name. Didn't that fool know who he was? You couldn't pull a stunt like that on Vincent Caprell and get away with it!

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to the pompous reporter, he got the hospital elevator to go back up to the floor he wanted.

**DING!**

The elevator doors slid open, and Caprell walked out and down the hallway like a man going into battle. When the patrolman guarding the door saw him, he looked away indifferently and coughed. Didn't this fool know that he was the greatest reporter ever?

"Is this Robert Gray's room?" Vincent demanded of the guard.

Murphy looked up at him.

"Yeah, but-"

The door opened and Bard stumbled out.

"And stay the hell out!" Robert Gray yelled after him. "You almost got me killed, cowboy! I don't ever want to see your face ever again! _I'm gonna sue you bastard, and, the Teen Titans, and the Jump City Police Department and, the City itself...hell, I'll even sue the pants off the damn state!"_

Bard's eyes were stricken until he saw Vincent Caprell. With a sour grunt, he gritted his teeth and walked away stiffly...and the reporter couldn't be any happier.

"You, guard!" Mr. Gray yelled out of his room at Murphy. "Bring me a reporter! I want the world to know exactly what I think of Bard! Now!"

Vincent grinned like a predator that had trapped his prey. He had told Bard that he was going to bury him, and that's exactly what he was going to do...But what he didn't know was that, back in the elevator...

The cowboy was grinning, too.


	63. No More Running

_"I __**am**__ running away from you..." - Bard_

_**CHAPTER SIXTY THREE**_

_**NO MORE RUNNING**_

Bard stood by a large window that overlooked a square, grassy, sunlit smoking area where a couple of people were puffing away at their cancer sticks. Though he briefly felt the temptation to go out there and smoke a cigarette himself, there was something he wanted to do, or _see_ more accurately, even more. The side of the hospital lobby he was in was situated into a kind of waiting room, with a dozen or so chairs, racks of magazines and a television that sat on a black pedestal roughly ten feet over the floor. The television was on the TBEP News Channel, but right now, it was showing the tail end of a commercial.

_'Check it out, kids!'_ The narrator's voice came from the speakers. _'It's the new Teen Titans action figures! You have Robin, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Starfire and Raven...But do you have Superboy and Bard?'_

Bard's eyes bugged out from behind his dark glasses as the screen showed plastic, five inch tall dopplegangers of himself and the Boy of Steel.

_'Your Teen Titans collection is not complete without Superboy and Bard, both with detachable and interchangeable sunglasses. And they really talk!'_

On the screen, a finger pressed a nearly invisible button on 'Superboy's' stomach.

_'It's cool to fight for justice!'_

The cowboy couldn't help it: He burst out laughing.

Back on the screen, a finger pressed a camouflaged button on 'Bard's' stomach.

_'YEEEEEEEHAHHHHH!'_

Bard stopped laughing immediately.

_That is so cliche...and that has got to be the most Yankee sounding 'yee-hah' I've ever heard in my cotton pickin' life. I need to call my agent._

He blinked.

_...I need to GET an agent..._

Thankfully, there were no more commercials after that.

_'Welcome back to TBEP News Channel, your dependable, reliable source for news you can trust.'_ The anchorman 'invited' the viewers back to the program. _'And now, we take you to Award-Winning Journalist and TBEP's very own, Vincent Caprell who is live at Jump City Hospital with an TBEP News exclusive interview with Robert Gray. Vincent?_'

The screen switched to the familiar sight of Robbie's hospital room, with the 'live' logo at the bottom corner of the screen and the TBEP News logo on the other corner. Robbie himself was in a sitting position on his hospital bed and Vincent Caprell was sitting right next to him in the exact same cushioned chair Bard himself had used no more than twenty minutes ago when _he_ had talked to Robbie.

_'Thank you, Bill._' Vincent said for the camera before turning to his interviewee. _'First and foremost, Mr. Gray, I'm sure our viewers want to know how you're feeling...'_ He suggested and held out a microphone towards his face.

Robbie said nothing, he simply stared in wide-eyed fascination at the camera, barely blinking.

Back in the hospital lobby, Bard was grinning. That was a nice touch that they hadn't discussed. The cowboy's grin faltered a bit. At least, Bard _hoped_ Robbie was doing that on purpose...

_'Ahem,'_ Vincent cleared his throat a tad bit nervously before he repeated: _'How are you feeling, Mr. Gray?'_

_'What? Oh!'_ Robbie blinked and snapped out of it. _'Other than being shot right in the belly, I feel just fine. I'm sure I'll be up and about anytime now.'_

A barely perceptible frown creased the reporter's face, and Bard knew that wasn't the answer that Vincent had been looking or hoping for.

_'Well, you certainly are a tough man.'_ Caprell covered that up. _'Nonetheless, I'm sure you are in an extreme amount of pain, so we'll try to keep this interview as short as possible.'_

_'But I feel just fin-'_ Robbie tried to object, but the reporter was already talking again.

_'Tell us, Mr. Gray, what made you courageously enter yourself in the melee to stop the criminals at the incident at the First National Bank?'_

_'I just wanted to do the right thing.'_ Robbie shrugged. _'But looking back on it,' _he added. _'It was more stupid than courageous, that's for damn sure.'_

_'Wh-what?'_ Caprell stuttered, obviously shocked.

_'It was stupid.'_ Robbie repeated and explained: _'I'm certainly no super hero and, at the moment at least, I'm not a cop, either. I'm not trained to deal with criminals. I should have sat back and let the professionals handle it, just like us taxpayers pay'em to do.'_

Vincent looked flustered for a moment, but then the cadaverous reporter quickly regained some of his composure.

_'Mr. Gray,'_ he said, going right back to the attack. _'When we first met, you told me you wanted to tell the viewing audience exactly what you think of one of the newest Teen Titans, Bard. Do you care to elaborate now?'_

Bard easily saw and read the look on Caprell's face: He had the look of a predator, waiting with slathering jaws for Robbie to degrade his name.

'_I'd love to,'_ Robbie grinned at him. Even in his weakened state, he easily plucked the microphone from the startled reporter's hand and looked dead on at the camera. _'Bard is a good man and an even better super hero. Sure, he might have made a mistake, but who hasn't? He and the rest of the Teen Titans sacrifice normal lives, and even their childhood's, to protect us. And they ask for absolutely nothing in return. But how does this asshole repay them? He tries to cut down the name of one of their members!'_

Robbie turned to the red-faced and chagrined reporter.

'_You make me sick, you silver tongued SOB! The citizens of Jump City oughta take you out in the street and tar and feather ya!'_

Vincent Caprell didn't know how to react. At first, he took on the glassy look of a deer in the headlights, than he floundered and stuttered for words, then his face turned beet red. He suddenly jerked his head towards the camera.

'_Cut it!'_ He hissed.

The camera shifted hesitantly.

'_Cut it now, damn it!'_

The scene switched back to the news studio to show the shocked, wide eyed and totally unprepared face of the anchorman.

'_W-w-w-w-we'll be right back to TEBP, TBPE...we're be back after these messages!"_

Bard stood in the hospital waiting room, grinning his fool head off, his cheeks stretched so far around his teeth that they almost hurt...but he didn't care. The pompous ass the public knew a Vincent Caprell had finally gotten exactly what he deserved...and Bard couldn't be happier. The cowboy decided he'd walk outside and reward himself with a quick smoke before riding back to Titans Tower and-

"Why do you keep running from me, Jonny?" A feminine voice called out from behind him; an angel's voice; _her _voice.

_Not now..._

Bard slowly turned around and, sure enough, it was her: Amber.

She sat cross-legged in one of the chairs, radiating beauty and her face showed a kind of tranquility Bard knew he himself would never, could never, reach, obtain or even understand.

The wheels were turning in Bard's head. The illusions were caused by Chang's fear gas, he knew...but that wasn't entirely the cause. Robin had gone through something similar, and the only way he had beaten was-

_"He realized a truth about himself."_ His sister's words came back to him with stark, surprising clarity...and he suddenly understood.

"I _am_ running away from you..." He whispered to 'Amber'.

But when he looked up, she was gone...

And the cowboy knew exactly what he had to do.

Back in the lab of Titans Tower, Cyborg was working on something that, quite obviously...was wooden.

"Ooooh! Ooooh!" Beast Boy was hopping up and down. "You gotta play something, Cy!"

The android tried his titanium best to ignore him...

"I'm serious, dude!" The changeling thought about it. "Hey! Play 'Dueling Banjos'!"

Cyborg stared at him.

"This is guitar." He explained slowly. "Not a banjo."

"...Oh," Beast Boy looked crestfallen, but then he suddenly beamed. "Oooh! Play 'She'll be coming around the Mountain'! Oooh! Oooh! Or even better, dude: 'Ninety nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall'!"

"Playing guitar isn't one of my talents." Cyborg told him. "I'll leave that to Bard." He paused. "But I am pretty darn good at _blasting people away with my sonic cannon_...if you catch my drift."

The green changeling blew a raspberry at him.

"Spoilsport." He grinned goofily. "Oh well, dude, I'll just sing it myself."

"Oh-no..." Cyborg cringed.

_#Ninety nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety nine bottles of beer! Take on down, pass it around, ninety eight bottles of beer on the wa-EEP!#_

**CL-CL-CLAKCK!**

Beast Boy found himself looking down the barrel of a very large and very ready to fire sonic cannon.

"Don'tsing."

"Ahem," Beast Boy cleared his throat nervously. "Shutting up now."

Superboy, who had been watching this exchange with amusement, had been leaning against the wall opposite of them, his leather jacketed arms crossed over the superman emblem adorning his chest.

"Why do you have Bard's guitar, anyway?" He asked Cyborg curiously.

Cyborg shrugged, his clunky metal finger trying his best to fit a string.

"After Bard took you to Metropolis." He explained to the Boy of Steel. "He put the T-Car in an inlet. Since I've already fixed up the T-Car, I thought I'd fix Bard's guitar, too..." He didn't have to say why. They all knew.

"Wait a minute!" Superboy said, blinking. "Bard wrecked the T-Car into an _inlet_ and he's still _alive!_"

"Heheheheh," Beast Boy was giggling. "I think Cy's scared of'em, dude!"

Cyborg glared at him.

"Would you like to meet Mr. Sonic Cannon again?"

Satisfied that he had shut Beast Boy up, for the moment, anyway, he turned back to Superboy.

"Bard had some help doing it." He was still working on the string, the human part of his forehead sweating from concentration. "But I can't promise I'll take it easy on him when we have our next trainingBOO-YA!" He finally had the string on the guitar.

One second of silence.

Two.

Three

**TWANG!**

The string snapped.

"ARUGH!"

Superboy and Beast Boy snickered at the frustrated metal man.

"Why don't you let Bard do that, dude?" The changeling asked him after he regained control of himself. "You've already fixed the water damage to it, right?"

"Yeah..."

Meanwhile, Superboy had glanced over at the small, mute TV Cyborg kept in the lab. It was still on the TBEP News Channel and the Boy of Steel thought he saw-

"Hey guys," he said. "Isn't that the guy that got shot? Turn it up!"

Cyborg leapt up quickly did that as Robert Gray was saying:

_'He and the rest of the Teen Titans sacrifice normal lives, and even their childhood's, to protect us. And they ask for absolutely nothing in return. But how does this asshole repay them? He tries to cut down the name of one of their members! You make me sick, you silver tongued SOB! The citizens of Jump City oughta take you out in the street and tar and feather ya!'_

"Yeah!" Beast Boy cheered, pumping his small fist up into the air. "You tell'em!" The changeling stopped.

He blinked.

A beat.

"Dude...can you say that on TV?"

Bard was walking down the hallways of Titans Tower. He was making a conscious effort to keep the clanking of his cowboy boots quiet but, besides that, his mind was elsewhere.

The revelation was a simple one: He _was_ running away from Amber...whether or not he had been aware of it before. And so was the solution...on the surface, anyway. All the cowboy had to do was go back to his hometown and find out what happened to her. That seemed easy enough physically, but the emotional and psychological baggage that came with it was almost unbearable.

How, for example, would he handle it he found out for sure that was indeed dead? _Could_ he handle it? And while the other prospect was much more optimistic, it came also with its fair share of problems. If Amber _was_ alive, could Bard really pull himself back to Jump City and his duties as a Teen Titan knowing that she was out there somewhere? More likely, he admitted to himself, was that he'd scour the country looking for her.

It might just be the hardest thing he would ever have to do. But if he learned one thing from his stay with the Teen Titans...it was that you didn't have to go it alone. He needed help; if nothing else, he just needed someone with him to keep him from going insane before it was all said and done.

Looking up, the cowboy found that his aimless, wandering steps had brought him right up to Raven's door. He stared at its smooth metal surface for a moment, hesitated and lifted his hand to knock on the door-

**SWISH!**

The door slid open just enough for Raven to peek out.

"What do you want?"

Bard blinked. Out of everyone, he knew Raven the best. There was some kind of invisible connection between them. Even though Raven was just as deadpan and emotionless with him as everyone else, he had the ability to read between the lines...so to speak. But now, she really was the Ice Princess...and totally in her element. Her room was almost pitch black behind her, and the only thing visible in the shadow of her robe's hood were her eyes.

Bard cleared his throat.

"Can I come in?"

"No," Raven retorted immediately. "No one enters my room."

Bard blinked again.

_Allrighty..._

"Can I talk with you for a second, then?"

"You're here; I'm within hearing distance; Talk."

Although Bard loved his sister, he realized at that moment that Raven was not the person he needed to be with him when he went 'back home'. He needed someone who would support him emotional and, quite obviously, that was not Raven's strong point. Finally, he opened his mouth to say something...but it was to late.

**SWISH!**

The door was already closed and Raven was secluded in her room once again.

Night had fallen over Jump City and it was late. The halls of Titans Tower were empty and even darker than usual. Everyone was asleep...everyone but Bard. He was tired to be sure; it had, after all, been a very, _very_ long day...But the cowboy couldn't sleep. Once again he was wandering the halls of Titans Tower, the world seemingly on his shoulders. For some reason, the faint blue light emitting from the lab drew his attention. Quietly, the cowboy slipped into the room.

Everything in the room was covered with the almost eerie blue light that glowed from all the hi-tech equipment. Across the room, Cyborg was doing his best Frankenstein impression, laying on an upright table, 'sleeping' and recharging his battery. Bard briefly wondered what it was like to be in his titanium shoes; to be half robot. But that thought fleeted away quickly as the weight of his problems sank down on him again.

And that's when he saw his guitar on the table. Feeling a little guilty, the cowboy realized he had almost forgotten about with all that had happened recently. Examining it, he found that it was good as new, only missing strings. The strings were on the counter beside the instrument though, so he decided to preoccupy himself by putting them on. Within a minute, the strings were fitted and, across the room, Cyborg's human eye seemed to twitch in irritation.

After a few more moments, the instrument was tuned and Bard picked it up and quietly left to take it back to his room...

But he still had one more thing he had to do tonight.

If one had to use a single word to describe Starfire's bedroom...that single word would most probably be 'pink'. The room's style was definitely feminine. Everything from the flowing pink curtains to the multitude of plush, stuffed animals everywhere. It seemed more likely to belong to a ten year old girl rather than to a teenaged, super heroine alien.

Outside, the shadowy outline of a man wearing a cowboy hat could be seen behind the frilly curtains...floating. The man quietly slid open a window and let himself in and, all the while, Starfire was deep in slumber. He walked up to the pink, circular bed, but he couldn't find her head on the pillow...only her feet.

Bard blinked.

_...To each her own...I reckon..._

He made his way to the foot of the circle bed and, sure enough, found Starfire's face. Painfully to Bard, he saw that her neck was wrenched over the edge of the bed, her head hanging just above the floor and her red hair becoming an auburn pool on the carpet.

_Aliens..._

Gently, Bard reached out and shook her awake. After a moment, her eyelids fluttered open and slid away to reveal emerald green orbs.

"Jonny?"

Bard bit the inside of his cheek and looked away.

_You've got to stop doing that..._

Meanwhile, Starfire had sat up with the covers and comforters wrapping around her to make a Tammaranian taco and looked over at her Mumbo Jumbo alarm clock.

"What is 'of the matter', Bard?" She asked him, turning back. "Is the city in danger?"

Gravely, Bard pulled over a femininely pink footstool, took off his hat and slowly sat down. His gaze was directed solely at the floor.

"The city's fine, Star." He told her quietly, spinning his cowboy hat listlissly in his hands. "I...I just needed to talk to you."

The cowboy expected questions. Questions about how he got into her room or why he chose such a late hour to visit her. But instead:

"I am listening, friend Bard."

He shouldn't have been surprised. But, regardless, Bard's face came up and looked at her for the first time since he'd awaken her. Her face was compassionate and her emerald eyes were wide and soft, ready to absorb his every word.

"First of all," Bard started hesitantly. "I just want to say I'm sorry for what happened earlier. I never should have-"

"But you were not yourself." Starfire leaned forward and Bard suddenly realized how close she was to him; of how close and intimate their bond was. "You were under the command of the chemical Chang obtained. Our k-kiss was of no fault of your own, Bard."

The cowboy smiled toothlessly and shook his head ruefully.

"You're amazing, Star, do you know that?" He asked her. "I swear, you're easily the sweetess, most compassionate person I've ever met."

The Tammaranian's hands fidgeted in her lap.

"T-thank you, Bard..."

Slowly, Bard reached his hands out and took his into her own.

"I came here for another reason, too." He said. "I need to ask you something...for a favor."

Starfire blinked and looked at him all the more closely.

"What is it?"

Bard sighed.

"I'm going on a trip, Star." He informed her. "There's something I have to do." He paused. "And...I want you to go with me."

"To where?" Starfire wanted to know. "And why?"

"Back to where I grew up. Back to where I grew up." He paused. "And I'm going back because I have to find out something. I have to find out whether...a friend of mine...whether or not she's alive. And I need you there to help me. So...will you come?"

It didn't take long for Starfire to answer.

"I will,"

Bard closed his eyes, utterly thankful. And he knew at that moment, knew without a shadow of a doubt that...

That God had sent him a guardian angel.


	64. Missing Star

"You talk too god damn much." - Marty

_**CHAPTER SIXTY FOUR**_

_**MISSING STAR**_

The next morning, Robin was the first one to make it to the main room of Titans Tower. The windows showed that there was a gray, morning drizzle outside that covered the city, but that didn't damper the Boy Wonder's spirits any. With a whistled tune rolling off his lips, he strode over to the kitchen with a newspaper under his arm, preparing to submerge himself into familar domesticity before his morning workout. He considered donning an apron as he opened cabinets and put pots, pans and bowls on the counter...but thought better of it. It wasn't until he reached into the refrigerator, brought out some eggs and turned back to the counter when he saw it.

He picked up the sheet of paper with his free hand and quickly read it, scanning the words with his eyes. Robin's face grew stricken and he suddenly lost his appetite. His gloved hand went limp and a pair of eggs splattered onto the floor.

_#-Get your motor runnin'! Head out on the highway! Lookin' for adventure!-#_

In the passenger's seat of the black, rented sedan, Starfire was smiling as the sun shone down outside.

"I enjoy this metallic, cranium banging music!" She beamed happily.

From the driver's seat, Bard smiled before he merged into the inside lane and glanced over at the alien. He had a feeling there wasn't much she _didn't_ enjoy.

"Where did you get that CD, anyway?" He wanted to know.

"The compacted diskette?" She asked. "Beast Boy lent it to me."

"Shoulda known..." The cowboy murmured.

The two Teen Titans didn't look like themselves out of uniform. Bard had opted to wear his usual jeans, shades and cowboy boots, but now he wore a white t-shirt and a white cowboy hat. His cross pendant necklace was completely hidden underneath the tucked in shirt except for the telltale bulge of the pendant. Starfire, on the other hand, wore a simple, flowered dress. On closer inspection, Bard noticed that it was the dress he had bought for her so long ago. He had bought it for her to wear to church, but she had never made it...

"Do you not enjoy the metallic music?" Starfire asked, bringing him back to reality. "Or would you rather listen to the music of breaking hearts, alcoholic beverages and blue collars?"

Bard stared at her and burst out laughing, coming close to grinding the car up against the guardrail. He jerked the car back to its rightful course quickly and, when he decided all was safe, he grinned over at Starfire.

"I see you've been doing your homework..." He suggested.

The Tamaranian nodded.

"I have found time to listen to the country music."

_I'm impressed..._

"Do you have a favorite song yet?"

Starfire nodded again.

"I enjoy the song entitled 'Holy Water', performed by..." She bit her lip, thinking about it. "By...Large and Wealthy?"

Bard chuckled.

"Close enough." He told her...But then he got to thinking about it.

'Holy Water' was a song that, while it was only implied, told the story of a raped women appealing to God, trying to regain her innocence. How could that be _Starfire's_ favorite song? Maybe...

"Star," Bard asked her hesitantly, looking for the right words carefully. "...Do you know what that song's talking about?"

Stafire's face became downcast.

"Indeed," she murmured. "When I was a young girl, there was a war on my home planet of Tamaran. Our opponents took many prisoners and..." She didn't finish. She didn't have to.

Bard's eye had grown as wide as saucers. The guardrail threatened again.

"You weren't-" He faltered.

"No," Starfire shook her head. "I was but a child. But there were many females in my community who were...and there were many who were never the same after."

"I'm sorry." Bard offered his condolences, but Starfire was already going on.

"What I like about the melody is the biblical imagery. I had thought only you put such emphasis on your god, but I have found that is not so."

Bard blinked.

"How do you know about biblical imagery?" He wanted to know.

"Your faith has always intrigued me." Starfire answered him. "So I used the Interconnection to learn more. It is truly amazing how much information the net contains."

The conversation ended and the metal guitar riffs coming from the radio's speakers filled the air uncontested, but Bard didn't hear them.

Starfire was a much more complex being than the cowboy had thought. He had figured that she'd led a sheltered life, but that was not the case. She had lived through tragedy and knew what evil really was. Her innocence was not a product of naivety, and that made Bard marvel and cherish it all the more. So wrapped up he was in his thought, he barely heard Starfire ask him something.

"-that?"

"What?" He asked, blinking at her.

"I said:" Starfire repeated. "Did you feel that?"

"Feel what?"

"I thought...I thought I felt the ground shake. But perhaps it was merely my imagination."

The black sedan continued cruising down the highway as the song 'Born to be Wild' drew to a close.

In a deserted gas station, Josh was in the bathroom. He zipped up, flushed, washed his hands and stepped back out into the sunlight. He walked around to the back of the gas station to where his stepfather, covered up to his elbows in grease, was working on a truck engine.

"Is it fixable, Marty?" Josh asked him.

Marty wiped his brown moustache with the back of his forearm and slammed down the hood before turning to him.

"Nah," he said. "Some fool forgot to change the oil. The damn motor blew up."

"It happens," Josh shrugged.

"Guess we'll just have to use this sucker for extra parts."

Silence fell between the two as they gazed at the truck. The only break in the monotony was when Marty lit a cigarette. Finally:

"Nothing exciting ever happens around here." Josh complained.

Marty nodded in agreement, exhaling smoke.

**-!**

"Now what in the hell is that?" Marty asked, shading his eyes and looking up at the noonday sky. He sounded only mildly curious.

"Sounds like a plane coming down or something." Josh guessed, looking up as well.

They finally saw it...and it was coming down, down, down...and it was large, large, large...

"Get out of the way, son!" Marty tackled Josh to the ground just as-

**BOOOOOOOOOM!**

something very large landed on the cab of the old truck, smashing it to pieces and sending metal debris and glass everywhere. That something looked around for a moment, bent it's legs and leapt impossibly high and far again.

**PHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-!**

Marty and Josh slowly stood back up and dusted themselves off. They first looked up at the sky to where the thing had disappeared, and then they both stared in utter disbelief at the destroyed truck.

"..."

"..."

After a moment of dumb staring, Marty smacked Josh in the back of the head with his palm.

"Ow! What was that for?" Josh demanded, rubbing the back of his head.

"You talk too god damn much."

With Robin standing, Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy and Superboy sat at the kitchen table for an impromptu team meeting.

"Dude, this had better be good." Beast Boy grumbled. "I was _so_ having a nice dream. There were these two blonde who wanted-"

"I do _not_ want to hear this..." Raven droned.

Superboy grinned impishly.

"I do,"

Robin slammed his gloved knuckles down on the table, making everyone jump and look at him.

"Chill, man." Cyborg told him. "What your problem?"

"My problem?" Robin repeated angrily. "_This_ is my problem!" He half flung the sheet of paper at the robot.

"What's this, dawg?" He asked, picking it up with titanium fingers.

"It's a note Bard left for us."

Superboy blinked and looked around.

"Where is the cowboy, anyway?"

"He gone." Robin answered him. He paused slightly before adding: "So's Starfire."

"They're together?" Raven asked, though it didn't really sound like a question.

Robin simply nodded.

"Dude," Beast Boy grinned goofily. "Better hope they didn't go to Las Vegas! Eloping-"

He stopped when he noticed the Boy Wonder glaring at him.

"Shutting up now..." The changeling squeaked out.

"Does the note say where they went?" Superboy asked.

"No," Robin shook his head. "It just said that this is something he, Bard, had to do."

"That's not vague..." Raven muttered.

"Are you going after them?" Cyborg asked.

Robin shook his head again with more frustration this time.

"I can't." He said. "I can't leave the city, especially with two Titans AWOL. Whether he knew it or not, Bard's trapped me here."

There was nothing but silence until the alarm sang out.

"There's a robbery going down in the Tech District." Cyborg announced.

"Good," Robin grated. "I want to bash some heads right now, anyway. Titans, go!"

Raven lagged a bit behind.

"Bard," she said to the empty air. "I hope you know what your doing..."

Then the floor beneath her turned to onyx ooze, and she sank into it to help with the 'head bashing'.

The whole thing started when Bard merely suggested that, after he'd been driving for a while, Starfire could take the driver's seat for an hour or two to let him get a breather.

"You've never drove a car before?" Bard was asking Starfire incredulously. The two were still in the black sedan, which was in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart. They had just finished eating lunch and a empty fast food bag was in the backseat.

"It is true!" Starfire told him, laughing at his shocked voice. "When I needed to travel, I simply used my ability to fly. I did not see the practicality in learning to drive a quatroped vehicle!"

"I can fly, too, Star, but I can still drive!" He eyes grew thoughtful for a moment, and then he seemed to nod to himself. "All right, that's it! I'm gonna teach you how to drive!"

Starfire frowned, her eyes worried.

"I do not think-" She started, but Bard was already talking.

"Come on," He said. "Switch places with me. When I'm finished with ya, you'll be ready for NASCAR!"

"But-" Starfire tried to object, but the cowboy was already out of the car and heading around for her door. A few moments later, Bard was in the passenger seat and Starfire was, nervously, behind the wheel.

"All right," Bard said when they were both in place. He put one hand on the back of her seat to give himself a better view. "The first thing you need to do is turn the key forward. It's in the ignition...on the side of the wheel."

Starfire tentatively did that and the engine revved to life.

"Perfect." Bard congratulated her. "Now-"

"Yay!" The alien impulsively clapped her hands together in her triumph.

Bard smiled.

"Now wait a sec, Star." He told her, his voice amused. "We're not finished yet."

"Oh!" She brought her hands up to her mouth.

_God, she's cute..._

Bard quickly shook that thought out of his head.

"Now," he said when he had collected himself. "Now you have to put it in gear. Pull that stick back until the 'D' is lit up. When it is, the car will go forward when you hit the gas pedal."

"And which one is the gas pedal?"

"It's the skinny one." He told her. "But look for traffic first and make sure you don't hit it too-"

**VROOOOOM-SCREEEEEETCH!**

"HAAAAARRRRDDDD!" Bard yelled, leaning back as far as he could and bracing himself with his hands on the dashboard.

The black sedan was on a suicide course to crash right though the front door of Wal-Mart.

"EEK!"

"Turn the wheel left, Star!" Bard half screeched. "Turn it left!"

She turned so hard that the car went up on two wheels. For an awful couple of seconds it seemed like they would tip over, but finally gravity came into play again and all four wheels were on the ground again...but that didn't mean that Starfire had let up off the gas.

**VROOOOOOOM!**

This time they were headed for a concrete wall that hid the face of a cliff that led back up to the highway.

"Star, hit the brake! THE BRAKE!"

"Which one is the brake?"

"THE BIG PEDAL! HIT IT! STEP ON IT!" But Bard saw that it was already too late. They were gonna hit the wall at sixty miles an hour.

**SCREEEEEEETCH!**

The cowboy braced for the impact...for the impact that would never come. He hesitantly looked up and saw that the bumper was less than a half a foot away from the wall. He let out sigh of relief and caught his breath.

"Well," He half laughed, trying to stop his heart from beating so fast. "At least we know the brakes work..."

However, Starfire's eyes were downcast and were completely ashamed. She unbuckled her seat belt and started to open the door.

"What are you doin'?"

"I am relinquishing the driver's chair back to you." She said meekly.

"What for?"

Starfire finally looked up and blinked her emerald eyes at him.

"I almost put a car in a ditch the first time I drove." Bard told her. "When you learn something new you're bound to make mistakes. You're a little accelerator happy, but that's nothing we can't fix. I told you I was going to teach you how to drive and, hell fire, that's what I'm gonna do!"

His speech was rewarded with a big, bright smile. He looked forward and once again saw they were inches away from the concrete wall.

"Ahem," he cleared his throat. "Now's as good a time as any to teach you 'reverse'."

"You 'eard me ya blimey bloke! I want the biggest bloody speakers ya got!"

The teenage electronics store clerk cowered behind the counter.

"Wh-wh-what do you n-need'em for, mister?"

"So I can bring the sound of chaos to the city, 'o' course!" The pale teenager leaned in and whispered confidentially. "If you're quick about it," he said lowly with his British accent. "You might just score yourself some front row tickets...provided you got some lady friends, of course." The rocker pulled at one of the many piercings in his ear. "You do, don'tcha mate?"

"Uh..."

"Punk Rocket!" Robin called from the entrance where the rest of the Titans were behind him. "The only girls you'll be seeing where you're going will be named Bubba!"

"Dude!" Beast Boy fell over, laughing hysterically. "That's the funniest opening line you've ever yelled, Robin!"

"The Teen Titans, huh?" Punk Rocket's pockmarked face sneered at them. "Today's ya lucky day, mates. I'm gonna give you blokes a private performance!" He swung his unplugged, electric guitar around to his front.

"Who is this guy?" Superboy asked, his face scrunching up. "Bard on some serious drugs?"

"Get ready to hear the sound of chaos!" Punk Rocket hit a power chord.

**BRRRRRIIIIIINNNNGGG!**

"Titans, go!"

The Titans separated, dodging out of the way of the ultrasonic blast of sound...all except for Superboy, who hadn't realized how dangerous a souped up electric guitar could be.

"Oof!"

The sound blast hit him and he was ragdolled through the air. He collasped in a sea of computer monitors.

Robin was the first to make it to Punk Rocket. He threw a high kick at him, but the rocker ducked and swung his guitar at the Boy Wonder's feet. Robin jumped over it and aimed another steel toed kick. Punk Rocket blocked it with his forearm and swung his guitar again.

**WHAM!**

Even as Robin flew through the air, Punk Rocket spun, slid on his knees to dodge a TV thrown at him by Raven's black telekinesis, and played another riff to deflect the blue blast from Cyborg's sonic cannon. The blue blast was knocked up and hit the green pteryldactal that had been in the process of swooping down on him.

"There's no way you can silence the sound of chaos!"

But Punk Rocket had picked the wrong day to get under Robin's skin.

**SW-SW-SW-SW-CLINK!**

The rocker looked down in surprise and saw a birdarang stuck in the floor at his feet.

"Ha! You missed, birdie!"

The red light on the projectile blinked once...twice...

**BOOM!**

Punk Rocket was thrown up high into the air from the concussion of the explosion. Superboy flew up to meet him, but Robin got there first. Just before Punk Rocket started to descend-

**B-BAM!**

Robin caught him with both feet. Looking like he was shot from a cannon, the British rocker crashed into a big screen TV with a spray of glass and sparks.

"Uhhhhhhhhh..." Punk Rocket fell forward, unconscious.

Coldly and without a word, Robin stepped up to him, cuffed his hands behind his back and started dragging him towards the entrance.

"Uh, Robin..." Beast Boy tried to say, but the Boy Wonder didn't even look at him.

"Ooooookay," the changeling continued after Robin had left with Punk Rocket. "Nobody piss off Robin today."

Everyone silently agreed.

The black sedan was back on the highway and Bard was watching Starfire drive from his place in the passenger's seat.

"You're doin' fine, Star." He told her when he noticed her nervous glances. He saw a speed limit sign. "Just slow it down a bit." He added.

_Who would have thought Star would be a speed demon?_

"Th-this is not as hard as I thought it would be."

"Of course not, Star." Bard shrugged. "It's not hard if you have half a thimble full of sense."

"It is actually...quite enjoyable."

"It's enjoyable for me, too." Bard grinned, reaching for the knobs in the dash. "With you busy driving, I get total control of the radio."

Starfire gasped.

"You possessed an ulterior of the motive!"

Bard winked at her.

"Of course!"

They both laughed.

Although it had seemed like no time at all to the cowboy, Bard found that the world outside the sedan's windows was growing dark. He suddenly realized that he hadn't smoked a cigarette since lunchtime.

_Maybe I can quit, after all..._

"Why don't you get off at the next exit?" He suggested to Starfire. "It's 'round about time we find a motel."

"A motel?"

Bard would have just nodded and left it at that had he not become aware that the alien just might not know what a motel was.

"It's a place we can spend the night." He explained. "We can't make it all the way to where we're goin' tonight."

Starfire nodded and merged to the outside lane.

"We are going to the place you grew up?" She asked.

"That's right."

"I am excited to see it."

Bard looked at her.

"Why's that?"

"Because I want to learn more about you." Starfire answered him. "You, along with R-Robin, of course, were not born with the extra of the ordinary super powers. Robin does not have the super powers, and you did not discover yours until recently. You grew up as normal earthlings. I find that intriguing."

Bard allowed himself a moment for that to sink in before he said:

"What about you? How did you grow up?"

She glanced at him before putting her eyes back on the road.

"I grew up ordinary as well. M-mostly..."

Starfire was not good at hiding things. Bard knew there was more, and he simply watched her until she elaborated.

"W-would you believe, friend Bard." She said almost shyly. "T-that on my home world, I am a princess?"

The cowboy grinned.

"Yes, I would." He shook his head, totally amused. "Matter of fact," he added. "That doesn't surprise me in the slightest."

Starfire flashed a shy smile at him.

**KNOCK! KNOCK!**

Sighing, Raven set aside her book and stood up, wondering who had bravery, (or stupidity), to bother her at this hour. She slowly walked over to her bedroom door and hit the control panel beside it to open the sliding door just a bit.

**SWISH!**

The dark sorceress blinked when she realized it was Robin standing before her.

"Can I talk to you, Raven?" He asked her.

Raven's usual answer would have been a simple 'no', but something was different. Robin looked...vulnerable. After a moment's hesitation, she stepped out into the hallway with him.

Robin coughed into his gloved hand uncomfortably...totally out of character from his usually strong, determined visage.

"...Did Bard tell you where he was going?"

Raven shook her head.

"If he did, I would tell you. You know that."

Robin looked away, scratching uncomfortably at his spiky black hair.

"You're right." He nodded. "It's just..." His voice trailed off.

"You're worried about Starfire?"

Mutely, Robin nodded.

"You can trust Bard to take care of her, Robin."

"...Y-yeah..."

Without another word, the Boy Wonder walked off down the hallway until the darkness swallowed him from sight.


	65. Going Home

_"You might have the wise, mystical sorceress vibe down. But you don't know men." - Superboy_

_**CHAPTER SIXTY FIVE**_

_**GOING HOME**_

"Welcome to the Williams Motel." The young woman behind the reception desk greeted Bard and Starfire when they walked up. "Can I get you two a room?"

"That'd be just fine." Bard tipped his white hat.

"Do you want a one bed room or a two bed room?" She asked.

"If we can only obtain one bed." Starfire said helpfully to the cowboy. "Then you are welcome to sleep with me."

Bard nearly choked on that. He coughed and spluttered even as he blushed to the very roots of his hair. Finally, he cleared his throat.

"Uh...a t-two bed room, if you don't mind, miss." He finally forced out towards the receptionest's general direction.

After Bard had paid her the money, the receptionist smirked at them with a wicked grin and winked as she handed over a key.

"Have fun." She cackled knowingly.

Bard blushed again, but Starfire was oblivious.

_I think I'm going to need that cigarette after all..._

The hotel room was like any other. It was adequate, but completely devoid of any of the aestistic touches that would make up a true home. There were two beds covered by comforters of a bland pattern and a cold, unfeeling painting of a lake scene. A medium sized TV sat on a dark brown dresser, there was a lamp sitting on a small table between the beds and in the far corner was a tiny kitchen. Opposite of it was the bathroom.

"It's not the greatest of places." Bard admitted. "But it'll do for one night."

"I think it shall do 'it' splendidly!" Starfire told him. "Do you mind if I partake in the shower?"

Bard blinked.

"By all means, go ahead."

"Thank you!" She squealed, clapped her hands together and disappeared into the bathroom.

Bard blinked again. Then he grinned

_I never knew showers were that fun..._

A beat.

Two beats.

He heard the water running.

His grin faltered.

His thoughts wandered...

"Ugh!" He snarled as he snapped out of it, disgusted with himself.

He turned and headed out the door to stand out on the balcony. Once there, he quickly dug into his jeans, took out a cigarette and popped it between his lips. Then, he took out a lighter, produced a flame and brought it up to the cigarette's tip. As he did so, the cowboy looked up at the night sky. Just before the flame of the lighter could light the cigarette-

**PHHHHHHHHHH!**

Bard dropped the lighter in surprise. Something had been silhouetted by the full moon; something large and humanoid. It had landed a few miles away, but it's direction had been quite obvious: It was coming towards them. And to something that could jump like that, a few miles wasn't very far.

Before he knew it, Bard had thrown away his unlit cigarette, tore open the door and had run back inside the motel room. Suddenly, the cowboy found himself in the bathroom. He had stood there for a span of three heartbeats before he actually heard the shower running. Then the fact hit him: He wasn't supposed to be there.

_Ah, shit!_

He turned and tried to scurry out of there before Starfire caught him, but he had turned too fast, the tiled floor had been too wet and the grip of his cowboy boots was too little. His feet slipped out from underneath him.

**THUMP!**

"Oof!"

From his spot on the floor, Bard heard the shower curtain being pulled back. Starfire and Bard stared at each other for a full second before-

"EEK!" Starfire covered herself with the shower curtain.

"Ah!" Bard clamped his hands over his glasses.

"B-Bard! Um...w-what was it that you wanted...?" Starfire asked meekly from behind her shower curtain shield.

The cowboy froze. In all the...excitement...he had forgotten why he was there. He frowned...

_Oh!_

"We have to get out of here!" He spit it out.

"W-whatever for?"

"I'll explain later! Quick, get dried off and get dressed. We have to go!" Bard sat there for another moment before he realized she couldn't do that with him there. Blushing, he quickly made it to his feet and rushed out, closing the door behind him. He stood there catching his breath. What he wanted more than anything right now was a cigarette, but now wasn't the time.

No, right now, it was time for him to get Starfire and himself the hell out of Dodge.

"Azarath, metrion, zinthos...azarath, metrion, zinthos."

Raven floated above the roof of Titans Tower. Her legs were crossed, her fingers were pinched at her sides and her long purple cloak billowed just above the gravelly ground. And that's when she heard the footfall behind her.

For some reason, the image of Bard's face flashed in her mind, but she knew it wasn't him. He was gone with Starfire and the mind she sensed behind her wasn't anything like the cowboy's.

"Sup, Raven?"

_Superboy..._

"Leave me alone." She deadpanned, not even affording him a glance.

"What?" Superboy asked. "Bard can come up here and talk with ya whenever he wants to, but I can't?"

Raven groaned inwardly.

"What do you want?" She sighed, finally turning to glance at him.

He looked the same as always: Blue and red bodysuit, the Superman emblem on his chest, black leather jacket, feathered black hair.

"I just wanted to ask you some questions." The Boy of Steel shrugged.

Raven blinked.

"_You're_ going to interrogate _me_?"

"I hadn't really thought about it that way." Superboy said. He flashed a sudden, boyish grin. "It _does_ sound like fun, though."

Raven's eyes tightened dangerously as that, and Superboy noticed it.

"I was just joking, Raven!" He said quickly, holding up his hands. Being zapped by black telekinesis was never fun. Well, maybe _sometimes_ it was...

"Are you going to ask me any questions anytime soon or are you going to stand there and annoy me all day?"

Superboy blinked.

"Man, you're cold..." He shook out of it. "Where did Bard and Starfire go?"

"I don't know."

"C'mon, Raven." Superboy cajoled her. "Bard tells you everything, doesn't he?"

The dark sorceress almost looked amused at that.

"My half brother is almost almost as secretive as I am." She told him. "I only give him advice."

"Bard is your brother?"

"_Half_ brother," Raven corrected. "You didn't know that?"

Superboy shrugged.

"I think I did, but no one ever really came out and said it." He paused. "So what advice did you give the cowboy this time?"

"...He left to find a truth about himself."

Superboy crossed his arms.

"That's pretty vague..." He suggested. Then he shrugged. "I think it's about time you gave Robin some advice, then."

"...Robin's fine."

Superboy grinned lopsided at her.

"You might have the wise, mystical sorceress vibe down." He said. "But you don't know men."

"..."

"Robin's girl isn't here right now." He explained obviously. "And she's traveling alone...with another man. And before you go and defend your brother's name, let me tell you: It doesn't matter _who_ it is."

Raven said nothing.

"Well, anyway...talk to Robin or don't, whatever. Just let him have his space."

With that, the Boy of Steel left her alone to contemplate...whatever weird voodoo crap she thought about.

Bard had decided not to take the highway. Instead, he drove the black sedan right into the urban heart of downtown...whatever city there were in.

"Why did we have to leave so quickly?" Starfire was asking him. She had thrown on the same flowered dress she had worn earlier that day, and her long red hair was still damp.

"Somebody's following us." Bard explained at her through clenched teeth even as he made a left turn at a dangerously high speed. Then he zipped through a red light. "By the way, Star." He added. "Everything I'm doing now: Don't do it when you drive."

But Starfire's mind was still on the first subject.

"Who is pursuing us?"

"I don't know." The cowboy said it shortly.

Bard felt a chill run through his body as he remembered that hulking figure descending from the sky towards him and Starfire. It...it had actually scared him. And really scaring or even intimidating a cowboy is a neat trick.

And his reaction surprised him. His first impulse was to grab Starfire and get the hell out of Dodge. That wasn't like him. Had it been Killer Moth or Jinx or even Brother Blood, he would have stood his ground and fought. Instead, he had stuck his tail between his legs and scooted away like a ringtail towards the trees.

**CRASH!**

The back tires of the black sedan were thrown into the air by shockwaves. Starfire shrieked even as the airborne tires whined in the air like bridled horses before they came down and got traction on the road again.

**SCRRRRRREEEECCH!**

Bard risked a quick glance up to his rearview mirror, but the smoke from the burnt rubber of the sedan's back tires obscured their attacker from view. All Bard could see was the huge, shadowy outline he made in the smoke. But then a small, horizontally sliver of smoke cleared briefly and the cowboy saw them: A pair of green, rage-filled eyes.

_Tim..._

The sedan zoomed off again. Whenever it came to an intersection, Bard would turn left or right. He certainly didn't want to go in a straight line; not with the way Tim's awesomely muscled legs could launch him into the air.

"Did you see our assailent's identity?"

Bard's face was grim and tight as he barreled the car through traffic.

"It's Tim."

"Y-your friend?"

That made the cowboy start mentally. All sorts of images filled his brain: Good, bad, happy and bloody.

_That's a damn good question, Star..._

"We gotta find some way to lose him." He said out loud instead.

"What is the plan?"

"I'm workin' on it..." Bard muttered back.

Tim landed in the road in front of their car this time, and there was no mistaking his identity. His usual short, sharp red beard had grown ragged and his hair was shaggier. He was every inch of fifteen feet tall and as wide as the front end of a mack truck. He lifted his gargantuan arm up over his head to smash down on them.

**SCKKKKRRRRR!**

Bard swerved the sedan around him even as Tim's fist came down in the spot where the hood of the car was just a moment before. Chips of concrete flew up into the air as a result of the awesome impact.

But Bard had underestimated the big man's speed. Even as the sedan swerved around him, Tim pivoted and just barely grasped the back bumper with his free hand. The car was jerked to a sudden stop, and both Bard and Starfire was pushed hard against their seatbelts.

_"BLOOD!"_ Tim screamed, the rage that had taken over him thirsting for it. Bard and Starfire slowly felt the car being lifted from behind.

"Star!" The cowboy ordered quickly. "Get unbuckled! When I say so, open the door and jump out, got it?"

Tim held the black sedan over his head now. He paused for just a moment. The rage that was controlling him might have hesitated because of the true Tim's mental protests...or maybe it was just savoring the moment.

_"HRRAUAUAGH!"_

"Now, Star!"

**CRASH! BOOM!**

The car exploded from the impact with sparks and flames licking up at the night sky.

And above them floated Starfire and Bard.

When Tim saw them, he moved forward to attack, but the cowboy already had his palm facing out towards him.

_#Tuesday's gone...Tuesday's gone with the wind!#_

At that sung command, the calm, night air whipped up. At first it was a whisper, but then it graduated into a breeze, than a gust, until it finally became a full fledged gale.

_"RRRRRrrrrrRRRrayayayRH!"_

Tim fought against it with all the strength he had. Even as the hurricane force winds whipped at his beard, hair and clothes, he took step after step forward, bending his head down into it until-

**FLASH!**

an expertly flung star bolt hit him in the stomach. He lost his concentration and his footing, and he was flung back. He flew away further and higher until the two titans lost sight of him.

Bard caught his breath before he said:

"Let's go. He'll be back."

"But out transportation-"

"We'll have to do it the other way. C'mon."

And with that, he lead her south.

To no surprise to the dark sorceress, Raven found Robin in the training room...training.

"Hah! Wah! Nngh!"

**BAM! WHAP! THUD!**

The Boy Wonder stopped his assault on the punching bag when he saw her. He wiped his sweat covered brow and leaned forward on his knees, panting.

"Raven..." He said after he had caught his breath. "Is something wrong?"

She shook her head.

"Then what is it?"

"...How are you?"

Robin groaned.

"You're gonna give me a pep talk, Raven?" He asked her. "That's never really been your style before."

Raven shrugged.

"Someone has to now that Starfire isn't here."

Even with the eye mask, she saw the hurt in Robin's eyes. The Starfire comment had set it off, of course, but there was something else...

"While you're here," he said. "I might as well tell you: As soon as he gets back, I'm suspending Bard from the Titans."

Raven's head came up in surprise.

"What?"

"His conduct is unbecoming of a Titan. You can't just leave anytime you want, especially with no warning."

"So you're suspending Starfire, too?" Raven asked, a bit of steel in her usually monotone voice.

_That_ jerked the rug out from under the Boy Wonder's feet.

"What?"

"Starfire left without warning, too, remember?"

"..."

Robin suddenly turned away from her as if she wasn't even there and continued his attack on the punching bag.

**BAM! BAM!**

"...Robin," Raven tried.

**WH-WH-WHAP!**

He ignored her.

"Robin," Raven said a little louder, but she knew it was no use. Right now, Robin was as unassailable as the moon.

Sighing, the dark sorceress turned and left her leader alone to his diversions.

Cyborg sat at a computer screen in the lab. He typed speedily away at the keyboard that was hooked up to the metallic pod that was the T-Trainer. His titanium fingers danced over the buttons, and the 'click click click' of them hitting the keys filled the room. Beast Boy sat on a table nearby, his swinging legs dangling above the floor.

The changeling was bored out of his mind.

"C'mon, Cy!" He almost whined. "Hurry it up!"

"Hold on, BB. It takes a while to write a computer program. Especially one like this one."

"But dude, you already wrote it!"

"Yeah," Cyborg admitted. "But the last time we tried to use it, Bard almost flipped out, remember?"

"But that was because of Overload."

Cyborg nodded.

"I know that. I just don't want it to happen again."

The sound of typing filled the room again.

"...So," Beast Boy said after a while. "Where do you think Bard and Starfire ran off to?"

"Dunno," Cyborg shrugged.

"I know you don't know!" Beast Boy protested. "That's why you gotta _guess!_"

Cyborg shrugged his metal shoulders again.

"New York?" He threw out from the top of his brain.

"_New York?_" Beast Boy shrieked incredulously. "There's no way Bard would go north! He's in the south somewhere. I'd bet all the money in piggy bank, dude!"

"How much is that?" Cyborg smirked. "Two pennies and a nickel?"

"Pssssh!" Beast Boy folded his skinny arms over his chest. "...It's _three_ pennies and a nickel, thank you very much!"

Cyborg chuckled.

"So you think Bard's down south, huh?" The android said after he was finished. "Well keep going with it, Sherlock. What' s he doin' down there?"

Beast Boy spun around and went into 'Sherlock Holmes Mode'. Cyborg could almost see the hat, brown overcoat and tobacco pipe.

"Here's my theory:" The changeling murmured in a bad accent. "He's found out about an umbrella corporation that experimenting with reanimating dead organic tissue. But the experiment has gotten out of control and zombies are taking over!"

"..."

"..."

"...You play too many video games, man."

The land gradually changed as Bard and Starfire flew south. The big cities became smaller and less frequent and the flat land began to rise into rolling hills and, eventually, into tall mountain peaks. It was now Fall, and the trees decorating the mountains were clad in every hue imaginable of yellows and browns and reds. It had always been Bard's favorite time of year to be in the mountains.

But he didn't want to be here now. For once, he was completely honest with himself. And he had to admit that he was scared.

The cowboy didn't scare easily; not true fear, anyway. He'd had a rough childhood and seen things he'd never wish on any other man. He had never backed away from a fight. But this wasn't a fight he was heading towards. The only enemy he would find...would be God's will.

Bard sighed and breathed in the fresh, night mountain air. His body was back to the place he loved the most, and it was in heaven. But his mind and heart were in hell.

"Are we nearing our destination, Bard?"

Bard glanced over at the redheaded alien. She looked as tired as he himself felt, and she was still wearing that flowered dress. He made a mental note to buy her some blue jeans in the next town they came to. Flying in a dress might shock some people, though he doubted Starfire herself would understand why.

"We're almost there, Star."

"Can we find another of the 'motel' when we arrive?" She asked. "I am most weary."

Bard nodded. He was just as tired. He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept.

Then, suddenly, a familiar ridge caught the cowboy's eyes.

"Forget about 'almost there'." He said, correcting his earlier statement.

They crested the ridge and, sure enough, there lay Bard's hometown in a valley at the foot of a huge mountain. Bard looked down at it, his eyes absorbing every detail and looking self contained at the same time as memory after memory washed over him like a cool, and sometimes stinging, rain.

_I'm here, Amber. And I'm going to find you. One way...one way or another, I'm going to find you._

He silently motioned for Starfire to follow, and the two of them descended into the small city.


	66. Truth

_"It won't matter how pissed off he is if you kick him hard enough." - Jonny_

_**CHAPTER SIXTY SIX**_

_**TRUTH**_

Bard could see Amber's face perfectly, as clear as the sky reflecting off a undisturbed, table top flat mountain lake. Like always, her eyes caught his gaze first. Her eyes were that extremely light blue, almost like molten silver; or maybe two distant, twinkling stars. But their color was only half the reason they always drew Bard in. It was the emotion and feeling in them, a kind of softness that seemed to absorb every particle of what he was, the good along with the bad, with equal joy.

Next, his gaze looked up at her perfectly groomed, delicate black eyebrows. He smiled to himself. Those eyebrows came with a price. He remembered her in front of the mirror with a pair of small tweezers. He remembered how painful it looked when she'd pull out the hairs one by one. Actually, he _knew_ it was painful. He'd fallen asleep once and awoke to her leaning over him, plucking out his eyebrow hairs in the exact same way.

The soft skin of her face shone with a kind of pale luminousness...much akin to the moon itself. Her nose was small and aquiline and her lips were a soft, delicate pink.

And she was calling him.

She said nothing and he heard nothing, but he knew she was calling him all the same. It was in her face. Bard could see that Amber missed him, and he could see the pain his absence caused in her face. She was waiting for him.

Waiting for him to find her.

_I'm coming, Amber..._

Bard awoke and, at first, he wasn't quite sure where he was. The room around him was blurred in his vision, so he reached over towards the bedside table to grab his glasses...only to find no table.

_Oh, right...the other side._

Now with his darkened, prescription glasses on, he looked around the room. Honestly, he could find virtually no difference between this motel room and the one they had visited briefly the night before...except that the bland painting was of an ocean scene instead of a lake scene. He pushed off the blankets and slowly stood up. He yawned and stretched at the same time. He looked over at the empty bed beside his. He cracked his neck. He took a cigarette out of the pack on table-

_Empty bed?_

He did a double take and, sure enough, the bed Starfire was supposed to be in was empty. The cigarette was forgotten.

"Star?" He called out.

No answer.

"Starfire?"

Silence...

The cowboy was just about to step outside and start looking for her when the bathroom door opened.

"I am present!" The redheaded alien assured him. She wore a pair of light colored blue jeans and a pink top.

"Star, where did you get those clothes?"

"I travailed upon a citizen to direct me to the mall." She answered him. "It was quite a bit smaller than the mall back home. I bought you a change of garments, as well."

Bard blinked. Though he had taken a shower last night, (or this morning, more accurately), he had had no choice but to put the clothes back on he was wearing the day before.

Smiling, Starfire handed him the shopping bag. A little apprehensively, Bard took it with a smile and headed towards the bathroom to change.

He was pleasantly surprised by her choice of clothing. He had half expected...pink. Lots and lots of pink. But instead, she had chosen a white tank top that was just a little tight around the shoulders and chest and a pair of light colored jean that were an inch or so two long. All in all though, he was satisfied with the result, and the clothes allowed him to keep his white cowboy hat.

"So, friend Bard." Starfire said when he walked back out. "How will we start searching for Amber?"

Bard sighed.

"We'll start," he said reluctantly. "By talking to a man who hates my guts."

Starfire giggled.

"Surely you are exaggerating!"

Bard smiled half-heartedly at her.

_I wish I was..._

The wind ruffled and ran through Robin's dark, spiky hair as he-

**SWWW-CLANK! SWOOSH!**

swooped via grappling hook across the city. Normally, when there was serious business to attend to, he'd travel on the R-Cycle. But this was just a routine patrol...that gave him an excuse to clear his head. With all the grace of an acrobat, he performed a back flip in midair and landed in a crouch on the corner of a roof.

The Boy Wonder was in the seedier, darker side of Downtown Jump City. The place where drug deals, murders and rapes happened much more frequently than in the rest of the city. It almost reminded the young hero of Gotham. His eyes scanned the streets from behind his eye mask. An elderly lady was making her way gingerly down the street and slinking behind her was a teenaged boy in baggy clothes.

Robin watched. He knew where this was going.

The teenage boy finally mustered up his courage and, running as fast as he could, he shot past the woman and snatched away her purse.

From up on the roof, Robin sighed.

_Child's play..._

Almost indifferently, he aimed his grappling hook.

**SWWWW-CLANK! SWOOSH!**

Robin swooped down at the fleeing purse and, almost identical to the actual theft itself, he blured by the kid and stole back the purse. The thief stood and stared in dumb amazement as gravity pulled taut against the grappling hook rope and sent Robin back along it's original curved arc...right back at the thief.

**WHAM!**

Robin buried both feet into the teenager's chest. Then he landed on the sidewalk and handed the lady her purse back.

"Th-thank you." The old woman wheezed out before scurrying away fearfully. She didn't look back.

Grimly, Robin pulled out his grappling hook again and swooped away.

_Yeah, just like Gotham..._

The memories the house before Bard invoked assaulted his psyche like a battalion of nostalgia. The house was like a scene straight out of a wholesome TV sitcom. The house was clean and bright, the shrubs and grass were a bright, rich green and clipped to perfection and a winding, concrete walkway made it's way to the inviting front door...

Only it didn't seem inviting to Bard.

This place was a haven for a wholesome, clean-cut family. And 'Jonny' hadn't fit into the picture.

"What is this place?" Starfire asked him.

"...This is where Amber used to live. Come on."

Bard made his way along the walkway to the front door with Starfire following close behind. The cowboy stood there for a moment, and then hesitantly knocked on the door. A few heartbeats later, the door opened up to reveal a small, older man dressed in brown slacks and a collared, short sleeved shirt.

"J-Jonny?" He asked incredulously.

Bard nervously cleared his throat and removed his white cowboy hat.

"Um...h-howdy, Mr. Marills."

Mr. Marills' eyes flashed with rage.

"AUGH!"

**WHACK!**

With absolutely no warning at all, the smaller man clipped Bard in the chin with his fist. The cowboy stumbled back and looked up just in time to see Mr. Marills leaping at him like a bobcat. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground with the older man sitting on his stomach and throttling his throat.

"You killed my daughter!" Amber's father screeched at him, his rage robbing him of his humanity. "_You killed my DAUGHTER, you bastard!_"

Bard went numb. He stopped struggling.

Suddenly, an older woman stood in the open doorway.

_"Richard!"_

Mr. Marills snarled before turning to his wife.

"Go back in the house, Mary!"

"No! I want to know-" She stopped once she got a good look at Bard. Her eyes widened. "Jonny?"

"That's right!" Richard spat. "He's the one that killed Amber! Our daughter!"

Mary Marills looked at her husband sharply.

"That's nonsense, Richard!"

"Is it!" He snapped, reluctantly tearing himself away from Bard's throat. "You know he associated with those thugs! He might not have done it himself, but he's the reason she's gone!"

Meanwhile, Bard was dumb-stricken. He felt like the world was crashing around his ears.

"Amber's...A-Amber's...she's..."

Mary nodded solemnly.

"Don't act like you're sorry you parentless bastard!" Mr. Marills raged. "You-"

"Enough, Richard! Can't you see he's in pain?"

"You always took his side, Mary." He muttered darkly. "See what it got you? What it _cost_ you!"

He turned to go back into the house, but he stopped beside a shocked and confused Starfire.

"So you're the new girl he's stringing along, huh?" His face was angry and bitter when he spoke to her, but his eyes were compassionate. "Let me give you some advise: Get away from that boy as soon as possible and stay away. He's going straight to hell and he'll drag you with him."

"But Bard would never-" Starfire tried to protest, but it was too late.

**SLAM!**

Richard Marills had already slammed the door in her face.

With wet eyes, Bard stood up, mechanically brushed himself off and turned to Mrs. Marills.

"W-what happened?"

Amber's mother silently lead him over to the front stoop and forced him to sit down before she answered.

"...There was a fire, Jonny. At your orphanage. And f-for some reason, Amber was there. N-no one made it out..."

Bard clenched his eyes shut and looked away. He knew the reason she was there; the _only_ reason she could have been there.

_She was waiting for me..._

_Jonny walked into the abandoned warehouse and looked around like he'd never been there before. It might have been abandoned, but that didn't mean it was empty. There was training equipment everywhere and thirty or so kids filled the large room. Some were working out, but most were just lounging. The only light in the large room, besides the afternoon sun streaming in from two high windows, was provided by long and glaring phorecent lights. Wooden beams crisscrossed across the ceiling and he could see a rickety catwalk perhaps twenty feet over the floor._

_Jonny took time to notice these things...because he'd never be back again...ever._

_"Hey, Blue!" He called up to the fat, greasy, cast-eyed and generally unhealthy-looking man up on the catwalk. "I need to talk with Mr. S!"_

_"Yo! Iz dat you, Jonny?" Blue called down from the catwalk._

_"Who else would gallivant in here with a guitar on his back and a cowboy hat on his head?"_

_"Heheheheh," Blue snickered, his belly jiggling. "True dat, true dat!" His face grew serious when he realized what Jonny had asked him. "What do ya wants to talk to Mr. S fo'?" He asked apprehensively._

_"Look, Blue." Jonny appealed to him. "Just go along with me on this, okay? As a friend?"_

_Blue snorted derisively and turned away, thinking about that. While Blue pondered the request, a young kid took the opportunity to talk to Jonny._

_"Hey...you're Tim's friend, right?"_

_Jonny looked down at the kid. He couldn't have been more than twelve or thirteen years old, and he was certainly new here._

_"I reckon I am."_

_"Tim let's me and my friends spar with him everyday." The kid said. "But we can never beat'im. Me and my friends figured that, since you know him so well and all, that maybe you could...give us some advice?"_

_Jonny shrugged._

_"Kick him between the legs."_

_The kids eyes widened into saucers._

_"But...won't that piss him off?"_

_Jonny grinned._

_"It won't matter how pissed off he is if you kick him hard enough."_

_"O-okay..." The kid scampered off to relay that piece of advice to his friends and Jonny suspected that Tim would have a loooong day tomorrow._

_"Aight," Blue finally decided. "I'll see if I can't get in touch with him. But if he gets pissed, it'sa all on you."_

_Jonny nodded silently. He waited impatiently for a while as Blue murmured a conversation with someone on a cell phone._

_"Aight." The cast-eyed man finally said, hanging up the phone and pocketing it. "He said he'll talk at ya." He reached into his shirt and brought out some kind of remote. He clicked a button and a large screen slid out from a wall. The figure it showed was hidden in shadow._

_"Ah, Jonny." The chilling voice of the man on the screen intoned. "I have been quite impressed with your work lately. Your diligence is inspiring."_

_"I wanted to tell you I'm leaving." Jonny went straight to the point. "For good."_

_"Why did you tell me this? Why not run?"_

_"...I thought I owed it to the organization to tell you I was leaving."_

_'I don't want to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life.' He thought his true answer inwardly._

_The silence that followed, for Jonny at least, seemed to last for years._

_"...Pity," Mr. S finally uttered. "I saw you going far."_

_"I will...just not here, doing this."_

_"You won't reconsider?"_

_Jonny's eyes grew steely behind his clear eyeglasses._

_"I won't." He said firmly._

_The dark figure nodded._

_"As I thought. You have been planning your departure for quite some time, yes?"_

_Jonny blinked._

_"How did you-?"_

_"I have my ways, child." Mr. S paused. "However, I cannot let you leave without a demonstration of what will happen to those who try to betray me...Tell me, Jonny, what was your girlfriend's name again? Amber?"_

_Jonny opened his mouth to reply, but no words came out._

_"I hope your last moments together were happy ones. She died approximately ten minutes ago." Even as Jonny froze in shock, Mr. S turned to Blue. "Kill him."_

_And the screen went to black._

_Tears filled Jonny's eyes as he looked up angrily at Blue._

_"How did he know?" He demanded hoarsely. "How in the hell did he __**know?**__"_

_Blue looked away._

_"It was you..." Jonny realized. "It was __**you**__ you sonuva bitch!"_

_He started forward, but Blue was already in motion. He dove off the catwalk and frontflipped time after time with his knees tucked up against his collar bone. When he reached Jonny, he suddenly straightened his body out and slammed both feet into the pit of his stomach._

_"UGH!"_

_Jonny was slammed down hard to the mat. He looked up incredulously._

_"How...h-how-"_

_"You didn't tink I was jes a lackey, did ya, Jonny?" Blue's face turn remorseful. "I'm sorry about dis, son, I really am." His hardened face looked up to the rest of the teenagers in the room. "...Kill him."_

_Blue stepped out of the room. He didn't look back. Meanwhile, Jonny looked up to see the gang members slowly converging on him. In his fall, his guitar had somehow ended up face up on his chest._

_'__**They should burn...**__' He thought bitterly, his eyes wet and his heart broken. '__**They should all burn in hell...'**_

_Jonny's hand brushed against the guitar strings on its own accord._

_**PH-PH-PHOOSH!**_

Fredrick 'Lucky' Williams earned his nickname. He'd grown up in one of the worst parts of Jump City with a mother who desperately need financial assistance. He was too young to take a job, so he had taken to petty theft. He was smart and crafty though, so slowly had he worked his way up the criminal echelon. He knew the right people. And all through his twenty years, he had the reputation of getting into incredibly dangerous situations and then, somehow, miraculously getting out of them.

He was living up to the first part so far.

"Tell me what I want to know scum...Unless, of course, you no longer _need_ your jugular vein."

Lucky's face was damp with sweat and he peered down nervously at the silver rapier poised dangerously close to the hollow of his throat.

"W-who are you, lady?" He stuttered out. "Are you a Titan?"

The woman sniffed daintily.

"That's insulting." She poked the thin rapier sword just a bit deeper into his throat. "Now tell me where I can find Slade."

TTTTTTTT

Robin, on a nearby roof, resisted the urge to rub his eyes at what he was seeing. A masked, white-haired woman was holding someone at sword point. The mask was a dark blue like the rest of her skin-tight costume, and it seemed like a skull cap bandanna except that it covered half of the girl's face and contained two white eye slits. She wore a pair tight yellow gloves and yellow flares started halfway down her forelegs. The V-cut at her bodice was cut provocatively.

**SWWWW-CLANK! SWOOSH!**

Robin let go of his grappling hook and landed gracefully in the alley, ten feet away from the sword-wielding woman and the hostage.

"Put your sword down and let the man go."

The woman didn't even look at him.

"This is none of your business."

Robin's teeth ground together.

"You're breaking the law in my city." He grated. "I'd say that classifies as my business."

"_Your_ city?" The swordswoman scoffed. She turned to look at him this time, but her sword arm didn't waver. "Don't fool yourself: This is _Slade's_ city."

The slits of Robin's eye mask narrowed suspiciously.

"Who are you? What do you know about Slade?" He demanded.

"What do I know about Slade?" She repeated. "I know that I'm going to find him and that I'm going to kill him. As for who I am...

Bard landed on the high, grassy knoll that was the graveyard. He was alone, since he'd asked Starfire to go back to the motel and wait for him. It was Fall, and the brown grass beneath his boots was dead...just like everything else in this place. The trees surrounding the graveyard were beautiful with their multi-colored leaves, but that beauty seemed out of place next to the drab, gray grimness of the tombstones. Tombstones were made to mark where a person was committed to the earth, to somehow pay tribute to the person's life, and Bard thought it was an inadequate attempt at best. The tombstones were cold, drab and lifeless, everything these people hadn't been. It was a tragedy, he believed; misrepresentation at it's finest.

It didn't take long for Bard to find Amber's tombstone. It was a simple, square shape and lay underneath the protective limbs of a tree. The cowboy knelt down in front of it, took off his hat and laid it absently on the ground beside him. He brushed the carved stone free of leaves.

Amber Marills

1986 - 2004

Beloved Daughter

Child of God

_"H-howdy, Amber. It's me...Jonny."_

TTTTTTTTTTTT

"As for who I am," the swordswoman smirked ever so slightly. "I'll make a deal with you, Robin: Make me break a sweat and I'll tell you who I am."

"What?"

"I feel I need to fight you." The villainess clarified. "You've fought Slade many times and lived to tell about it. If I cannot beat you, how can I take Slade's life?"

Robin took in a deep breath.

"All right," he said, whipping out his metal bo staff. "I accept your challenge."

The girl smiled and lowered her sword from her hostage's throat. Immediately, he took off running, but the swordswoman didn't even seem to notice.

"Ah, a bo staff." She mused. "A formidable weapon." She sheathed her rapier at her hip, reached behind her back and brought out a metal bo staff of her own. "Now we can fight as equals."

_"I...I want to say I'm sorry. So very, very sorry. It was all my fault. You're no longer here...because of me."_

Robin and the woman leapt and struck at each other at the same time. Their staves struck each other's so hard that it forced both of them back a step. They circled each other in the alley until Robin attacked again. The woman blocked an over hand attack, an attack aimed at her ribs and a flurry of jabs by spinning her own staff to deflect. She tripped him, leaped in the air, and planted the tip of her staff in the spot where Robin's chest had been a moment before. Sparks flew.

_"As stupid as it sounds, I joined that gang for you...for us. I-I wanted to give you everything you deserved. A life of happiness."_

Robin leapt back up, and the two of them traded attacks again; attacks so fast that it was hard for the human eye to see the parry and counter parries of the fight. The white-haired girl tried to sweep Robin's legs out from underneat him again, but the Titan leader leapt over her staff, spun and kicked her full in the face.

**WHAP!**

_"But, though I had good intentions, I lost sight of God. And...and he brought you home, and away from me, as punishment. Heh, I reckon the road to hell really is paved with good intentions...huh?"_

The swordswoman fell, but as she did she scissored Robin's legs and brought the hero down to the ground along with her. With both of them on their backs, she demonstrated insane flexibility as she kicked him in the face. She catapulted back up to her feet, and Robin followed her quite a bit more slowly.

"All right, Robin." She said then, putting away her bo staff. "I know your ability now, so I'll keep my end of the bargain..." She walked over and leaned far over his shoulder to whisper something in his ear.

Then, she leapt upon a dumpster, vaulted onto a roof...and she was gone. Robin whipped out his grappling hook...but he stopped himself. After a moment's hesitation:

**SWWWW-CLANK! SWOOSH!**

He swooped away...in the opposite direction.

A huge shadow fell over Amber's grave. Jonny looked up.

And it was Tim.

As Robin continued to swing via grappling hook towards Titans Tower, the girl's whispered words stayed in his head.

_"I am...the Ravager. And my hand will be the one to end Slade's life."_


	67. Hope and Love

"I'd beat you like a redheaded stepchild, son." - Bard

CHAPTER SIXTY SEVEN

HOPE AND LOVE

The sky had not changed. Neither had the earth or the inalterable changing of the seasons. But for Bard, after seeing Amber's grave and tombstone, the world would never be the same again. And it didn't help that his super-powered, insane friend was there to witness the epiphany.

"Jonny..." Tim rasped, standing huge next to Bard and Amber's tombstone. He wore tattered brown pants and a shredded, unbuttoned white shirt. The ensemble made him look very much like the Mr. Hyde to Dr. Jekyll.

"Tim!" Bard half-shouted, trying to get through to him. "Amber's dead!"

The big man quizzically tilted his head to the side.

"It's true!" Bard pointed at the headstone. "Look!"

To the cowboy's horror, Tim immediately reached down without a thought and wrenched the headstone from the ground. As Bard stared on in shock and horror, Tim turned the tombstone over in his hands and looked at the carved writing. His face scrunched up and he snorted derisively.

"LIE!" He bellowed.

What?

"Blood! HRAUH!"

Tim tossed the headstone like a frisbee. Bard dove out of the way just in the nick of time and went belly down to the ground. He looked up just in time to see Tim's big foot stomping down on him.

Shi-

STOMP!

Dark, wet soil flew up from the newly made, foot shaped crater in the ground...where Bard had been just a moment ago. The cowboy rolled to his feet and slid his hands down into the pockets of his jeans. When he took them back out, they were adorned with his adamantine knuckles.

"Listen to me, Tim!" Bard shouted at him. "I don't want to fight you! Can you hear me?"

Tim charged.

Reckon not...

Bard tried to dodge out of the way, but Tim was too close and too big for the cowboy to get away from him. The hulking man plucked him up, spun and tossed him through the air like a javelin. Bard landed in the grass and rolled to a stop against the low, red brick wall that surrounded the cemetery. He slowly rose to his feet, his cowboy hat gone, his clothes dirty and his shirt ripped.

#The flames grow higher, and higher Till we've reached an out of control ragin' fire#

The flames Bard produced weren't his normal fireballs, but a wall of dancing flame that rose straight up from the ground that separated himself from Tim.

He panted...waiting.

PHOOSH!

Tim leapt through the flames, barely singed.

Bard's eyes thinned underneath his darkened glasses.

WHAM!

Bard's body ragdolled through the air, smashed through a wooden sign that announced to the world that this was the 'Oak Grove Cemetery' and rolled bonelessly down a steep hill. He came to a stop beside a busy four lane highway.

"Ugh..."

Dizzy and disoriented, Bard saw stars. He tried to rise, but it took him a few moments to figure out which way was up again. And while he was laying spreadeagled on the grass next to the highway, Tim was already leaping at him again. Bard pointed his hand up at the huge figure descending on him.

CRA-ZAP-CK!

The lightning bolt hit Tim dead on. Smoking, he was catapulted out towards the highway. He slammed hard into the transfer trailer of an eighteen wheeler. The huge vehicle flipped over from the insane impact. Tires screeched and car horns blared as motorists slammed on brakes to avoid the big truck.

Bard gingerly made his way to his feet and started across the highway. The highway was covered with stalled cars, and the cowboy wove and slithered his way through them to get to the transfer truck. The white sheet metal of the truck's load had crumpled like aluminum foil around Tim's huge frame...but Tim was nowhere to be found. Directly behind the cowboy, a sports car slowly raised up in the air until it finally revealed Tim, still smoking, lifting it up over his head by the rear bumper. Bard was oblivious to the danger behind him as he examined the awesomely totaled eighteen wheeler.

Meanwhile, most of the civilians on the highway were either huddled fearfully in their cars or had abandoned their vehicles to go get help. One blonde haired girl, on the other hand, had gotten out of her car and was making her way towards the destructive scene with a mystified look in her dark blue eyes.

"Blood!"

Bard whirled around, even as Tim's shoulders tensed to crush him with automobile.

"No!" The blonde girl shouted.

Bard's blood froze when he realized a civilian was getting involved...again.

"No!" He shouted back at her. "Get away! Now, damn it!"

But the girl ignored him. He turned back to Tim who had set down the car and was staring at the girl.

"Tim..."

"N-Nicole?"

The hell?

_The Ravager..._

Robin sat at the kitchen table in Titans Tower, staring unseeingly down into a cup of coffee that was becoming colder and colder by the minute.

_The Ravager..._

The Boy Wonder barely heard a voice. He shook out of it and looked up to find Cyborg sitting down across the table from him.

"What?"

"Yo, man...are you all right?" Cyborg asked him.

"I'm fine." Robin said it automatically.

"C'mon, dawg, you don't gotta hide it. If you're stressed out 'cause Starfire and Bard flew the coop, you can let us know."

Robin blinked.

"...Y-yeah..." He paused. He looked away. He briskly stood up and walked steadily out of the main room, leaving only the sound of the sliding doors 'swoosh' behind him.

Truth be told...Bard and Starfire were the last things on his mind. One word was in the forefront of his brain, almost like it was etched to the insides of his eyelids.

_The Ravager..._

Why was he so intrigued by her? Why couldn't he think about anything else? She was a lawbreaker; a vigiliante. Robin had once been a vigilinate, true, but now, being part of the Teen Titans, he was a legitimate part of the law enforcement community. But the Ravener was not. In the strictest code of law, she was criminal. Then why didn't he want to track her down and capture her?

But then it hit him:

Slade.

She had said that she would kill Slade. And in the darkest parts of his soul that Robin would never, could never talk about...

He wished her the absolute best of luck.

_The Ravager..._

"So there I was:" Fredrick 'Lucky' Williams was saying. He sat at a poker table in a dark room with three more shady-looking characters. The only light was the lone bulb hanging directly over the green felt table. "Up against the alley wall and I had this psycho, costumed bitch holding this bigass sword to my throat. But just then, Robin of all people comes along. They started talking, but I didn't stick around to hear. I got my ass outta there!"

His buddies laughed and gaffawed at that.

"That's just like you, Lucky, always getting your black ass into trouble!" One of them exclaimed while looking over his cards.

"To hell with that!" Another one said. "I want to know how he gets out of the shit every time! Every time! Somebody has got to be looking out for'im!"

The third one put a little more thought into his comment.

"She wore a costume, huh? Was she a Titan?"

"Hell no." Lucky shook his head, betting a few chips. "I asked her myself and it pissed her off!"

"Hehehehe." One of his buddies chuckled. "At least she has good taste!"

"Hear, hear!" The others agreed.

"She's lucky you were there, Freddy." The man sitting next to Lucky said, trying to peek at his cards. "If she've had me like that, I'd've blasted her ass away!"

"Don't be frontin', dawg! I would have been the only one here that could kick her ass!"

"I call." The third one said, throwing in chips. Then he smirked and looked around. "I would have made that sword lady my bitch!"

They laughed raucously at that.

"If you gentlemen are finished measuring your penises, I have business with 'Lucky'." The distinctively female voice came from the a shadowy dark corner of the room.

"It's her!" Lucky screeched.

One of the men stood up and brought a gun out from the front of his pants.

SLICE!

The pistol clattered to the floor and the man fell back, clutching his bleeding forearm.

Meanwhile, the Ravager leapt up onto the poker table, stood gracefully on her head and kicked outwards with a perfect split in two directions at once.

WH-WHAM!

"Now," she uttered, her voice perfectly calm and her feet back on the floor. "Perhaps you can answer my questions...especially if you want to keep the name 'Lucky'." She held up her silver rapier suggestively.

"Wh-wh-what do you want to know?"

The Ravager smiled.

Tim...

Tim was shrinking. There was no other word for it. He had stood an incredible fifteen feet tall, but now his height was descending.

Twelve feet.

Eight feet.

Seven feet.

Finally, he was...back to normal, standing with Bard and the blonde girl, Nicole, in the middle of a jammed highway.

"...Tim?" Bard looked at him incredulously...right in the eyes. "You're back!"

The cowboy came very close to impersonating Starfire as he leaped forward and hugged his friend.

"What the hell are you doin', Jon!" Tim said, though his voice wasn't harsh and he didn't make any move to disentangle himself. With their tattered clothes, they looked like two car wreck survivors. "Didn't I tell you to control those homosexual tendencies of yours?"

Bard suddenly coughed manfully and let go of him.

"Besides," Tim added with an almost lecherous grin. "I was kinda hoping for Nicole to be doing the hugging."

Smiling, Nicole leapt into his arms. Bard watched the two of them make out for about the span of ten heartbeats before he couldn't stand it anymore. Tim had finally found someone who as...with as a big an 'appetite' as his.

"All right," he finally said. "Could you please fill me in on what's goin' on?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Tim grinned. "I'm Nicole's big hunk of man-meat."

"I'm his girlfriend." Nicole translated. She held out her hand. "I'm Nicole."

Bard reached out and shook it.

"And I'm-"

"Jonny." Nicole finished for him. "Tim's told me all about you." She pursed her lips. "I thought you'd be shorter."

"..." There wasn't much Bard could say to that.

"Let's get the hell outta here." Tim said suddenly. "I have some explaining to do...and some things to say sorry for."

"But first," Nicole said. "We have to get you two some new clothes. Not that I mind seeing you two show so much skin...but you're attracting too much attention. We'll go to the mall and-"

"Hell no!" Tim and Bard almost said simultaneously.

Nicole looked up at them, surprised.

"We're goin' to Wal-Mart!" They finished together.

TTTTTTTTT

A few hours later, Bard, Nicole, Tim and Starfire were sitting around a table at a waffle house.

"So you are fully cured, Tim?" Starfire asked him.

"Looks that way." He thumped his chest. "I feel as good as ever!"

Tim looked meaningfully at Nicole.

"Why don't you and Sunflower-" He started to suggest.

"Starfire," Bard corrected him.

"Whatever. Why don't you two go...powder your noses or whatever the hell it is you girls do in the bathroom. I need to talk to Jon for a second."

Nicole looked into her boyfriend's eyes and nodded.

"C'mon, Starfire." She invited the alien.

"Why is it that we must powder ourselves?"

Nicole looked at her funny, but nonetheless continued to lead her across the restaurant. When the were gone, Tim looked seriously at Bard.

"I just wanna say...ya know...I'm sorry."

"There ain't no reason for you to be apologizin'." Bard told him. "You weren't yourself."

"I don't care." Tim shook his head. "I put you through hell. Damn near killed you. And..." His voice trailed off.

"What?"

Tim sighed.

"You know when you and the hot cloaked chick with the killer-"

"That's my sister you're talking about."

"Ahem," Tim cleared his throat mockingly before becoming deadly serious again. "Do you remember when you and your sister went into my head?"

Bard suddenly stiffened. He nodded mechanically.

"I...I could see it. I saw everything you saw..."

Bard looked away. The images he had seem in his friend's diseased mind still haunted him to this day. Tim's younger self bloodily stabbing his own younger self to death. And Tim cornering Amber in a movie theater bathroom...

"No reason to apologize." The cowboy said it brusquely. "That wasn't the real you. You'd never do those things."

Tim looked unconvinced.

"But-"

"Forget it." Bard said, and it came out as a adamant order. "It wasn't your fault. Forget it ever happened and we'll never talk about it again."

Tim looked closely at him.

"It hurt you a lot...didn't it, man?"

"I thought I just said we wouldn't talk about this again?"

Indirectly getting the answer to his question, Tim nodded and looked down at the table.

"So..." Bard started. "You really love this Nicole girl, huh? Who would've thought that Tim of all people would finally fall in love..."

Tim's head shot up.

"What?"

"It's obvious." Bard said smugly. "Not even our friendship could bring you out of it. She's the reason you're cured. She invoked the one emotion strong enough to beat your rage: Love."

Tim stubbornly folded his arms across his chest. He was about to reply but, just then, Nicole and Starfire returned.

"So, what did we miss?" Nicole asked Tim as she sat down, giving him a quick peck on the cheek.

Tim opened his mouth, but Bard beat him to it.

"I was just telling Tim that it was lucky you showed up when you did." The cowboy winked. "I was just about to take him to the woodshed."

Tim's green eyes widened.

"PSSHH! As if, man! I was the one beating you down. Hell, I could beat you down right now!"

"I'd beat you like a redheaded stepchild, son." Bard leaned back and grinned.

Tim flexed his huge muscles, even without the Bane Serum, under his newly acquired red shirt.

"Don't make me bring out the gun show!"

Bard smirked at him.

"Don't bite off more than you chew, Tim. You're not even half the man you used to be."

Tim stared hard at him...and then he burst out with laughter.

"Half the man..." He muttered between chuckles. "That was good."

"Glad you liked it." Bard replied, laughing good-naturedly alongside him.

Nicole was looking speculatively at the two of them.

"No wonder you went all the way to Jump City looking for him." She finally said to Tim. "You're like brothers."

Both Tim and Bard shrugged that off silently.

"Ooooh!" Starfire gushed. "I am so happy you are reunited!"

Tim and Bard, again as one person, manfully looked away uncomfortably. After a moment, Tim looked back across the table at Bard.

"So, tell me, Jonny." He said. "Why did you come back down here, anyway?"

Bard bit his lip.

"...I was lookin' for Amber..."

Tim shrugged.

"You sure as hell ain't gonna find her here."

"But I was visiting her when you showed up."

"The hell you were!" Tim almost bellowed, riling up a couple eating at a table near them. "I destroyed that tombstone for a reason."

Bard looked at him, an impossible hope blossoming in his heart.

"Jon...Amber's alive."

The shadow came alive underneath the cover of the starry, night sky. The pale moonlight embraced her and reflected off the rapier at her hip as she bounded gracefully from building top to building top. Finally, she reached the rooftop Lucky had directed her to.

Tonight, the Ravager would find her prey.

The building she was on the rooftop of was supposed to be abandoned, but the Ravager knew it wasn't empty. She quickly and silently made her way to the sky light windows and popped one of the latches open. As gracefully and as stealthily as a cat, she leapt through it, descended into the dark building and landed in a crouch. It took a moment for her eyes to grow accustomed to the dark. The place was riddled with rusty catwalks and old cogwheels and mountains of metal scrap. Chains dangled and jangled jarringly from the ceiling.

Frankly, the place looked like hell. And then she spotted the makeshift throne and its king sitting in it.

CHING!

"Slade..." She whispered with dreadful intensity, drawing her blade. "It's time for you to die..."

"I knew you'd come here eventually."

The Ravager tilted her head to the side.

"...You're not Slade." Though her voice was extremely disappointed, she didn't let her guard up for a minute.

The figure that had been sitting on the throne stood up and stepped into the moonlight pouring in dimly from the ceiling windows.

It was Robin.

"This was Slade's old haunt." He told the Ravager, looking around as if he were coldly reminiscing. "We fought here many times...more times than I care to remember."

The Ravager listened silently.

"I've made it my life's goal to stop Slade." Robin continued. "To put him behind bars and force him to accept justice's punishment."

"I'd rather for Slade to face my punishment."

"And what's that? Death?"

"A grisly death."

Robin smiled toothlessly.

"What if I asked you to be a Teen Titan?" He asked her then. "On the condition that you don't kill anyone. I promise we'll use all of our resources to track down and capture Slade." He paused. "Right now, Ravager, you're a vigilante; a criminal. And it's my job to bring criminals to justice."

"Are you trying to threaten me, Robin?"

"No, I just want you to know the facts." He stepped closer to her. "So how about it? Do you want to be a Teen Titan?"

The Ravager didn't consider it very long.

"No,"

"Why not?"

"Because I don't think you can capture Slade." She smirked at him. "And I know you can't capture me."

Robin's face tightened into anger for a moment, but then he smirked, too.

"Let's make another deal: If I can catch you, you become a Teen Titan."

"And if you can't...?"

"...Then I'll give you all the information I have on Slade."

The Ravager didn't think about that one very long, either.

"You have yourself a deal."

Robin suddenly lunged at her, hoping to catch her by surprised, but the swordswoman flipped over him, catapulted off his back and up through the window back up to the roof. Snarling, Robin whipped out his grappling hook aimed it up.

SWWWWW-CLANK! SWOOSH!

The chase was on.


	68. Of Philosophy and Sunsets

_"Murder is simply a word." - The Ravager_

_**CHAPTER SIXTY EIGHT**_

_**OF PHILOPHOSY AND SUNSETS**_

Robin landed on the roof of Slade's old haunt, analyzing all around for any sign of the Ravager. The white slits of his eye mask became trained on one particularly dark rooftop nearby and he aimed his grappling hook. Suddenly, he leapt to the side, just as the Ravager flew past with an outstretched leg. The two of them slid to a stop and stared fiercely at each other.

"I thought I was supposed to be the one catching you." Robin called to her, his gloved hand obliquely trailing down towards his utility belt.

"Sometimes the best defense is a good offense." The Ravager replied calmly, her hand gripping the hilt of her silver rapier at her hip. "I suspect it's a bit hard for an unconscious person to catch you."

The short moment that passed between them seemed like an eternity. Without a word, both of them went into motion at once. In a flash, three sharp birdarangs appeared between the Boy Wonder's fingers. He flung them with laser precision even as the Ravager drew her rapier.

**SW-SW-SW-SW-TING!**

**SW-SW-SW-SW-TING!**

**SW-SW-SW-SW-TING!**

The Ravager deflected all three projectiles with her rapier. Two of them were sent sailing harmlessly up and away from her, but she sent the third one right back at Robin.

**SW-SW-SW-SW-CHTINK!**

The birdarang imbedded itself in the stone roof right next to Robin's boot. He took a surprised step back, even as the Ravager smirked, leapt up on the ledge...

And jumped off.

"Ravager!"

Robin leapt forward to peer over the ledge, just in time to see the Ravager effortlessly twirling around a horizontal flag pole. With all the grace of a professional gymnast, she dismounted, flipped fluidly and landed on another reached for his grappling hook, but he stopped his hand halfway there.

_You're not the only acrobat around here, Ravager..._

Robin leapt off the ledge and gripped the flag pole with his gloved fingers. He vaulted his legs up and spun around the pole. Once; Twice; When he gained enough momentum, he let go, flipped in the same fashion as the Ravager and landed on the rooftop.

The Ravager clapped for him without enthusiasm.

"You're good." She admitted without much emotion. Then she turned and bounded away.

Robin took off after her, his black and yellow cape flapping, and the chase continued.

Bard and Tim stood on the balcony of the motel where the cowboy and Starfire had spent the previous night. Nicole and Starfire were inside, and Bard suspected that Starfire was making Nicole her new friend...whether she wanted to be or not.

Bard took out a cigarette and lit it up.

"Some things never change, huh?" Tim said to him sarcastically.

"I'm in the process of quittin'." The reply seemed automatic.

"Oh, yeah? How many have you smoked today?"

Bard blinked.

"...This is my first one." He answered, surprising even himself.

Tim's face was skeptical.

"You're shittin' me."

"I'm serious." Bard defended himself, taking a puff.

"Damn, I guess you were serious about that 'process of quitting' stuff after all. It just took you for forever and a day."

Bard smiled briefly at that as he exhaled smoke through his nostrils. He took a moment to look up at the starry sky before he asked:

"When did you and Nicole meet?"

"Not long after you left. Her parents were in some kind of accident and nobody else seemed to give a damn, so she was shipped to the orphanage." Tim's voice was bitter.

"So it was love at first sight?"

"Hell no. We spent most of her first week there yelling at each other."

Bard blinked.

"And then the yelling turned into making out." Tim continued. "And the making out turned into-"

"I get the picture." Bard interrupted him quickly. Then he smirked. "A fairy tale romance, huh?"

Tim made an indelicate noise.

"Fairy tales are for pansies."

Bard looked away, out at the horizon.

"If my fairy tale works out the way I want it, you can call me a pansy everyday of the week and twice on Sunday for the rest of my life." He paused. "So...how is it that she's alive? Amber, I mean."

Tim scratched at his shaggy hair.

"Well, when Mr. S wanted to take out Amber, Blue had to tell somebody to do it. You were his number one man but, for obvious reasons, he couldn't go to you. So he went to number two..."

"He asked you to do it?" Bard asked incredulously. "But...Blue's not that stupid. He'd know that you wouldn't do it for, if nothing else, my sake."

Tim nodded.

"I don't think Blue is a bad man. I think he knew what I would do. Anyway, I bet you can figure out the rest of the story. I went back to the orphanage to find Amber there. I told her, like you used to say, to get the hell out of Dodge, and then I sent the orphanage sky high. She's been waiting for you ever since."

"...Thank you." Bard told him sincerely. "Where is Amber now?"

"Think about it, numbnuts." Tim tapped him on the head with a finger. "If she's waiting for you, where would she be?"

Light dawned in Bard's eyes.

"...Nashville..."

Robin landed in the middle of a near pitch dark alleyway. He just knew that the Ravager had landed here but, at the moment at least, she was nowhere to be found. Robin started forward at slow walk, his eyes searching. He slowly spun around three hundred sixty degrees as he moved forward: He wanted to make sure the Ravager didn't get the drop on him...

**SW-THUMP!**

The Ravager dropped down on him.

"Oof!"

Robin suddenly found himself trapped underneath the swordswoman.

"You'll have to do better than this if you want to catch me and make me one of your precious Titans." She whispered in his ear. There was an awkward moment between them before she flipped off of him and scampered off again.

Growling, Robin made it to his feet and flung a bolo at her retreating figure. The rope went taunt against the back of her calves and the two weighted balls instantly wrapped around and forced her ankles together. In mid-stride, the Ravager went down like a bowling pin. Grimly satisfied, Robin made his way over to her.

"Welcome to the Teen Titans."

"Like hell..." The Ravager grit her teeth and, somehow, her silver rapier found its way into her hand. Robin rushed forward, but it was too late: She'd already cut her bonds.

But Robin had already leapt at her. Even as the Ravager tried to make it to her feet, the Boy Wonder landed on her. They rolled across the alleyway until Robin finally ended up on top, straddling her waist and holding down her hands.

"Consider yourself caught." Robin smirked down at her.

The Ravager said nothing, but her face gradually tilted upwards towards Robin's. Her lips came closer and closer to Robin's and, just before they touched together for a kiss-

WHUMP!

the Ravager kneed Robin between the legs. The Boy Wonder rolled off of her, assuming the fetal position on the ground.

"I'm not Teen Titans material." She told him as she stood back up. "I'll come by your tower tomorrow to pick up the information on Slade." She paused and thoughtfully pursed her full lips. "Make sure you put some ice on that." She added.

And then she was gone.

Robin slowly sat up. The pain was dissipating. And then, out of nowhere...

He smiled.

The next morning, in the parking lot of the motel...

"Road trip!" Tim yelled.

Bard, Nicole and even Starfire looked at him funny.

"Hey!" The big man defended himself with a shrug. "One of us had to say it."

"So we are travailing upon the city of Nashville?" Starfire asked Bard. "The place where your music was created?"

Bard smiled genuinely at the fact that she knew that. Then he nodded.

"Yup, it looks like this road trip is gonna be a little longer than we expected." He blinked as something hit him.

"Um...we're gonna need another car, though..."

"What happened to the one you drove down here with?" Nicole wanted to know.

Bard cast a quick glance at Tim and decided to go with a little white lie.

"We had a flat on the way down here." He shrugged. "So we had to abandon the car."

But Starfire was looking him quizzically.

"But was it not-"

Bard quickly put his arm around her shoulders and used his free hand to cover up her mouth.

"We had a flat tire, remember, Star?" He said it slowly and meaningfully.

Starfire understood.

"Y-yes, our tires became flat...!"

"...Right..." Nicole looked at them strangely, but she decided not to comment on it. "I've got a car we can use." She volunteered instead.

Not long later, the four of them were standing in front of Nicole's car.

"..."

"..."

Despite Bard and Tim's silence, Starfire gushed:

"Is this one of the S to the U to the Vs? It looks quite spacious and powerful!"

Nicole smiled at the alien.

"Thank you." She turned to Bard and Tim. "Well...?" She prodded them.

Bard looked away discreetly, but Tim was still staring at the big truck. Finally, he burst out:

"It's yellow!"

Nicole's eyes narrowed.

"What's wrong with yellow?" She asked her boyfriend dangerously.

"PSSH! Yellow is the crappiest color of all! It's too freakin'...bright...and yellow!"

"But that is not true at all!" Starfire objected. "Yellow is not the excrement of the rainbow! It is the glorious color of your sun, and of the delicious beverage mustard!"

"...Um...you're not supposed to drink mustard..." Bard tried to tell Starfire, but Nicole was already talking again.

"I can't believe you don't like yellow, Tim!"

"It's not just me, Nicole! All men hate yellow!"

"Oh, yeah?" She challenged, putting her hands on her hips. "Why hasn't Jonny said anything about it then?"

"Cause he can't!" Tim smirked. "He's hen-pecked!"

"...Amber's favorite color is yellow." Bard admitted embarrassedly.

"What if it wasn't?" Nicole asked him to hypothesize. "Then what would you think of yellow?"

Bard glanced sidelong at Tim.

"Tell her the truth, man."

Bard sighed.

"I hate yellow, too...with a passion."

Nicole pouted, but then her face turned angry.

"Why do you have to make fun of my truck?"

"We weren't, Nicole." Tim shrugged. "You asked us our honest opinion and that's what ya got!"

Nicole folded her arms across her chest.

"You're not getting any for a long time." She told him coldly.

Even as Tim's face grew crestfallen, Starfire's face became puzzled.

"Getting what?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Let's just get this damn show on the road!" Tim finally said.

Bard immediately agreed.

**TAP...TAP...TAP...!**

Robin sat at the kitchen table in Titans Tower that morning, his newspaper and coffee laid aside and forgotten. His arms were folded across his chest and his metal tipped boot tapped against the floor in a fast, disharmonic rhythm. Every few moments or so, he would glance down at his wrist, ignoring the fact that he wore no watch...over and over and over again.

"Dude, why are you so fidgety?" Beast Boy asked him. The little green changeling was in the kitchen as well, making...something...out of tofu.

"I'm not fidgety." Robin defended himself lamely.

"Riiiiiiiiight," Beast Boy agreed sarcastically. "You just have a really bad itch you don't want to scratch."

"..."

"Actually, dude," the changeling went on. "You look like you're waiting for somebody." His eyes went wide. "Are Bard and Starfire supposed to be back today?"

"I don't know when they're be back."

"...Oh," Beast Boy's voice was disappointed, then puzzled. "Then who are you waiting for?"

"I'm not waiting for anyone." Tired of being interrogated, Robin stood up and walked out of the room.

"Dude, what's his problem?"

Cyborg simply shrugged from his place on the couch, but, unnoticed, Raven put aside her book and stood up from her regular spot on the futon couch and silently followed the Boy Wonder down the hallway.

_"Sweet home Carolina! Na, na, na, na, na, na, na! Where the skies are so blue! Na, na, na , na, na, na, na!"_

Tim and Bard sat in the front seat and driver's seat of Nicole's yellow SUV, singing the slightly modified song at the top of their lungs.

_"The southern man don't need him around, anyhow! Na, na, na, na, na, na, na!"_

In the back seat beside Starfire, Nicole was cringing.

"I already knew Tim couldn't sing." She confided to the alien. "But I thought Jonny was supposed to be good."

"But B-, um, Jonny is an exceptional singer!"

"He sounds like a broken record right now!"

Bard glanced back at them from behind the steering wheel.

"I can sing." He told Nicole. "But _no one_ is supposed to sing good with the radio. It's a rule!"

"It's the only rule he follows!" Tim guffawed.

Bard reached over and turned the radio down a bit so they could talk easier.

"So, Nicole." He called back over his shoulder, hoping to get to know his best friend's girlfriend a bit better. "What do you do?"

"I'm training to be a veterinarian."

Bard laughed when he saw Tim glaring at him.

"Don't say it."

Bard shrugged, grinning.

"It was too easy, anyway." He looked back at Nicole. "You can be proud being a vet. I was just poking fun at your love slave."

Tim muttered something sour, (and probably vulgar), under his breath.

"What do you do?" Nicole asked Bard right back.

"I reckon you could say I'm in law enforcement."

"You're a cop?"

Bard chuckled.

"Actually...I'm a super hero."

Nicole laughed skeptically.

"Yeah, right."

"Friend Bard is not tugging upon your foot." Starfire informed her.

Nicole suddenly put it together.

"Bard?" She pointed at him. "Starfire? Wait a minute, you're part of the Teen Titans!"

"You can call me Jonny." Bard told her.

"Fancy that." Nicole said mostly to herself. "I have two super heroes riding in my truck."

Tim looked back at her, a little offended.

"What about me?"

"What about you?" Nicole grinned. "You're the most special person of all in here."

Tim looked proud.

"Because you're with _me_!" She finished.

Tim started muttering again.

That evening, just as the world was growing dark, they pulled off the highway and arrived in Downtown Nashville.

"All right," Tim said. "How are we supposed to find Amber in this big-ass place?"

"We already have." Bard grinned. He pointed at a building across the street. In blinking, neon lights, it read: "Sunset Bar and Grille".

Robin paced back and forth across the floor of the evidence room, his nerves wound tighter than a tightrope. For some strange reason that the Boy Wonder couldn't fathom, he was infinitely intrigued by the Ravager. Maybe it was because she was so mysterious. Who was she? Where did she learn her fighting techniques? What exactly did she have against Slade?

"When do you expect her to arrive?"

Robin nearly jumped out of his cape and his gloved hand instinctively shot down towards his utility belt. He stopped it abruptly, however, when he saw that it was only Raven. His eye slits narrowed warily.

"Who?" He asked apprehensively.

"The Ravager."

The white slits of his black eye mask widened.

"How do you-"

"I am an empath, Robin." Raven explained in her usual drone. "I always allow my teammates to keep their privacy...but your thoughts were so 'loud', I couldn't help but overhear."

Robin said nothing.

"So...who is this 'Ravager'?"

Robin's opened his mouth to deny-

"I can speak for myself."

The Boy Wonder whirled around to see the Ravager stepping fluidly out of the shadows. The only people who could truly sneak up on him was Slade and...and someone from Gotham City. But somehow, the swordswoman had managed it.

"My name is not for show, dear." She was saying to Raven. "I truly am the Ravager. I _will_ ravage Slade's life...and then I will take it." She turned to Robin as if Raven no longer existed. "Where is the information on Slade that you promised?"

But Raven spoke up first.

"What you suggest is murder."

"Murder is simply a word." The Ravager shrugged with scary indifference. "And what I said was _not_ a suggestion. It is a fact." Her hand strayed suggestively to the hilt of her rapier. "Or will be."

Raven turned to Robin.

"And you're just going to let her attempt this?" She demanded of him. "I know how much you hate Slade but-"

"I _won't_ let her do this."

"...So you are simply helping her now to stop her later?"

Robin's face flushed.

"We made an agreement-"

"You negotiated with a criminal?"

"She's not a criminal!" Robin realized he'd said it too emphatically when he saw Raven lean back in surprise. "N-not yet, anyway." He added in a lame murmur.

The Ravager looked at Robin with some surprise from behind her mask.

"You're going to attempt to protect Slade from me?"

"No..." Robin's gloved fists tightened with conviction at his sides. "I"m going to attempt to protect you from yourself."

"A noble answer." The Ravager smirked. "But also a naive one. You know of all the evil acts Slade has committed. He is a bane upon the earth. Tell me, Robin...If, _when_ I kill Slade...will you really think of me as evil?"

"It's a question of law, Ravager." Despite his strong facade, it came out sounding a bit weak. And the Ravager saw it immediately.

"Laws are not right or wrong. They're simply made to prevent chaos. Surely you don't think jaywalkers are evil."

Robin's face tightened.

"That's the not the issue here."

"Of course it is, Robin. Can you dispute the fact that the city, the whole world for that matter, would be a better place without Slade in it? And would you _really_ want to punish the person who committed the benevolent act of getting rid of him?"

Robin started to answer.

"I didn't ask whether or not the laws dictate the person should be punished. Would _you_ want to punish that person?" She leaned forward. "Would you want to punish _me_?"

...Silence...

Silence...because Robin wouldn't answer that. But that silence was all the answer the Ravager needed.

He wouldn't.

Bard had opened the door to the yellow SUV and was moving to step out when Tim stopped him by grabbing his arm.

"Jon...you sure she's in there, man?"

Bard nodded.

"Like you said: Nashville's a big city. If she's really waiting for me here, she'd be somewhere where I could find her."

Tim looked up at the glowing sign.

"What does sunset have to do with anything?" He realized the answer to his question almost before he finished asking it. "Oh...never mind."

Nicole, however, was still curious.

"Yeah, what does sunset mean?"

"It's not important, girl." Tim replied.

"But I wanna know!"

Bard stepped out and shut the door, no longer able to hear the conversation. He carefully crossed the busy street and ducked into the Sunset Bar and Grille.

The first thing Bard noticed was the sounds. There was the raucous hum of conversation from the slightly buzzed patrons unwinding after a long day at work. A football game on a TV over the bar fought with the old George Jones ballad pouring out of a jukebox.

Then came the smells: The dry smell of sawdust, the aroma of simmering meat and, most of all, the organic, pungent smell of beer and alcohol.

But all of those sounds and smells faded away when the swinging door across the room that led to the kitchen parted. The silence was deafening, even if no one but Bard could hear it. The girl bringing out a tray of french fries and barbeque was still beautiful, no doubt about that. Her long, lustrous black hair was pulled up conservatively in a bun, and tiny wisps of it escaped that self-made prison and swooped down to frame her face.

Pink lips.

Pale, fair, alabaster skin.

Light blue eyes.

Perfectly groomed, raven eyebrows.

Graceful, unconscious movements...

And Bard simply watched. Watched as if this all was a silent movie as she set down her tray of food on a table and smiled at the group. One of the men said something, and she smiled. But it wasn't her true smile, Bard knew. It was restrained. As if something was missing.

_I'm missing. __**Us**__ is missing..._

And then those light blue eyes fell on him. The recognition in her face was instant, even with his darkened glasses covering half of his face.

Amber smiled. Her _true_ smile. Happy and joyful and free and _complete_.

And Bard realized he was wearing one that was identical.

With tears in her eyes, Amber bounded forward and flung herself into Bard's arms. He easily caught her and they simply stood there, holding each other and just happy to be existing.

"Jonny..." Amber finally said, and her voice was like angels singing from on high in Bard's ears.

"Hmmm?"

"Tell me about the sunset, Cowboy..."

"To hell with sunsets." Bard started to get choked up. He swallowed, steeled himself, fought back the tears in his eyes, steeled himself, steeled himself. "I love you."

That declaration came out as a barely audible whisper, but Amber had heard it. More tears came from her eyes and she clutched him all the harder.

"I love you, too." She wept happily.

And they held each other, oblivious to all around them.

**!**

An awesome explosion rocked through the kitchen, and the flames of it whooshed out with uncanny force and speed out into the bar itself...and right into Bard and Amber.

**CRASH!**

As one person, they were flung through the front window of the place and collapsed onto the street in a sea of shattered glass, holding each other the whole time.

Tim almost wrenched the truck door off its hinges in his mad scramble to get out of the SUV and make his way over to them.

"Jon! Amber!" He yelled in mid-stride. "Are ya'll all right?"

Bard, underneath Amber, stirred and groaned lightly. He brought a shaking hand to his aching head...and realized it was covered with blood.

_But I'm not hurt..._

The ultimate fear flashed in Bard's eyes.

_**"AMBER!"**_

He got no answer.


	69. Prophecy

_"I am a video-gaming __**god**__!" - Beast Boy _

_**CHAPTER SIXTY NINE**_

_**PROPHECY**_

It was morning, and the sky was a deep, cloudless blue over Titans Tower. Seagulls screeched, praising the beauty of the day with their high pitched calls. A soft, cleansing wind swept over everything and everyone, but Robin didn't feel it.

The Boy Wonder sat atop the roof of Titans Tower, wearing his eye mask and a severe, white kata, trying to meditate. Trying to clear his mind. To stop thinking about _her_. Trying to forget that Slade ever existed, or that he had ever heard the Ravager's words...

_"Can you dispute the fact that the city, the whole world for that matter, would be a better place without Slade in it? And would you __**really **__want to punish the person who committed the benevolent act of getting rid of him? Would __**you**__ want to punish that person? Would you want to punish __**me**__?"_

Robin sighed in frustration, his teeth grinding. Angry at himself for being indecisive...and weak.

"She's manipulating you, Robin."

It was Raven.

"Maybe..." Robin admitted after a moment. "But, nonetheless, she's right. If she were to kill Slade, I wouldn't track her down or think of her as a evil criminal. If she were to kill Slade, I would feel...happy; glad."

"But you know it's not right."

"..."

"When you were Slade's apprentice," Raven started slowly, knowing it was a sensitive subject for her leader. "Do you think we wanted to track you down? But we did, Robin, because it was the right thing to do."

Robin sighed.

"Y-you're right, Raven." He admitted.

"Of course," Raven shrugged. "I'm always right."

Robin looked up at her with a halfhearted smile. It faded quickly.

"Raven?" He asked.

The dark sorceress looked at him.

"...Is Bard ever coming back?"

"What?"

"Do you think he and Starfire are gone for good? He...he might have asked her to just go away with him..."

Raven shook her head.

"Bard will bring Starfire back. I don't know why he left and took her with him...But I do know that it doesn't have anything directly to do with Starfire herself." She paused, collecting her thoughts. "I know how Bard thinks. What he's doing now is...extremely important. At least to him. And he wants someone there to support him." She gazed knowingly at Robin. "If you were in the same situation, wouldn't you choose to take along Starfire, too?"

Robin nodded thoughtfully.

"But why not you?" He asked then. "You _are_ his sister."

"Half sister," Raven corrected automatically. The corner of her lip rose slightly. "But in case you haven't noticed, Robin, cheering people up isn't one of my strong points."

Robin smiled again, but then his face became determined. He stood up.

"Where are you going?"

"Where else? I'm going to track down the Ravager."

It was raining in Nashville, Tennesee. Everything was weeping. Everything was gray and dark and hopeless. Everything was like Bard felt inside.

Bard sat in the waiting room of Baptist Hospital, hunched over with his face in his hands. His ponytail had come loose hours ago when he had flown Amber to the hospital, and he hadn't bothered to put it back up. Now, it cascaded over his face, hiding it from the world like some brown, living curtain. He was tired and hungry and sore, but he ignored all of it. There was only one person that mattered right now, and it sure as hell wasn't him.

The cowboy had spent most of the night either pacing worriedly or down on his knees, praying. Surely God wasn't so cruel as to take Amber away the moment he had found her again. But now Bard sat unmoving in a chair in the waiting room, knowing that he had done all that he could do.

At that moment, Tim, Starfire and Nicole walked carefully into the room. Starfire and Nicole sat solemnly beside Bard, but Tim didn't do solemn.

"I can't believe you made us leave, man."

Bard sighed, sat back in his chair and reluctantly pushed away his hair to face the world again.

"You needed your rest." He answered.

"What about you?" Came Tim's rebuttal.

Bard shrugged without any real emotion.

"I wouldn't have been able to sleep, anyway."

...Silence...

"So..." Nicole said hesitantly. "H-how's she doing?"

"How should I know?" Bard said bitterly. "They're not telling me anything! All they've said is that she's got a mild concussion, but that can't be all of it. Can't be..."

"I'm sure she will be fine, friend Bard."

"And how are you supposed to know that!" He snapped at her before he could stop himself.

Starfire gasped, her emerald eyes filled with hurt.

Bard hung his head.

"I'm sorry, Starfire. It's just-"

"I understand." Starfire told him, but Bard could tell that she still felt hurt.

He sighed, too tired and worn down to put anymore effort in making her feel better. And, if possible, that somehow made him feel worse. He sighed again.

Perhaps twenty minutes later, a haggard-looking doctor came into the room.

"Mr. Johnson?" He asked generally.

"That's me." Bard stood up quickly. "How is she?"

The doctor's eyes grew sadly distant; almost detached.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Johnson, but-"

"She's dead?" Bard gasped.

"What?" The doctor blinked. "No, no! Miss Marills is alive."

Bard felt tempted to breathe a sigh of relief, but he know that wasn't the whole story.

"So, what's the problem?"

"Miss Marills...she is paralyzed, sir. I'm sorry."

Bard's chest constricted and went cold at the same time.

"A shard of shrapnel was impaled against her spinal column and-"

"What's paralyzed?" Bard asked, interrupting. "Her legs? Arms?"

"...Her entire body is paralyzed, Mr. Johnson. She has no feeling whatsoever."

Bard face fell, and all kinds of dark emotions assaulting his psyche and heart. But then Bard saw something throug his tear vision, something that had been with him all along in more than one way. And that something was like a light pushing back the darkness of his soul...

"The hell she is." The cowboy suddenly growled. He moved to go around the doctor.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Johnson, but I'm afraid I can't let you go back there."

Ignoring him, Bard brushed by him.

"Sir, I am sorry for this tragedy! But I cannot-"

Without changing expressing, Bard grabbed the small doctor by the front of his jacket and flung him away effortlessly.

_My God...you look like death, Amber._

Those were Bard's first thoughts when he arrived at Amber's hospital room and first saw her. And no one would disagree with him. A monotonous, digital beeping measured her heartbeats and an IV was stuck into her arm. And she was unmoving, unseeing, unfeeling...virtually dead in almost all definitions of the word. He pulled up a seat beside her bed, reached out and gingerly took her hand.

"The doctor says you're paralyzed, Amber." He whispered to her. "He says you'll never move, of even feel, again in your entire life." He paused, his face growing resolute. "The doctor doesn't know what's he talking about."

Slowly but steadily, he reached for the cross pendant necklace on his neck and carefully raised it over his head. Then, with a tenderness only a lover possesses, he lifted Amber's head and put the necklace on her...and stepped back in surprise.

The necklace was glowing. Pulsating, it seemed, in time with Amber's heartbeat. The glow grew brighter and brighter and brighter and finally forced Bard to shield his eyes and look away. When he was finally able to look back, the necklace was gone. The moment seemed utterly significant to the cowboy, but that feeling was soon replaced with joy. Amber had sat up and opened her eyes.

_Best trade I ever made...Thank you, Lord._

Awed, Amber looked down at her hands, slowly flexing and unflexing them. She looked up at Bard, her eyes filled with wonder.

"How...?"

"Contrary to popular belief, Amber," he winked as her from behind his darkened lenses. "God is still in the business of doing miracles."

Rose Wilson sat on a couch in a small, rundown apartment, clad in light colored jeans and a simple, dark navy t-shirt. Her wealth of colorless, long white hair contoured to the soft curves of her face. Her sky blue eyes were far away, strategizing; planning; preparing. Suddenly, she stood up and paced gracefully over to her closet. Opening a secret compartment beneath the rack bar, she reached inside and took hold of a silver rapier.

"Greetings, Ravager."

Rose whirled around, her sword poised defensively in her hand. Before her was a woman, a girl, really, dressed in robes similar to the Titan Raven's. A deep hood hid the girl's face, but the color of her garments were a brilliant, almost glowing white.

"Who are you?" Rose demanded, waving her rapier threateningly.

"I bear you no ill will." The girl answered calmly. She either didn't see Rose's weapon or simply disregarded it. "What I am called matters not at the moment. Only know that I am one who would reveal certain truths to you."

Rose's eyes narrowed, but her sword arm never wavered.

"Then you're supposed to be some kind of messenger?"

The girl shook her head.

"Messengers are...frivolous. And that is a trait I do not possess. You can think of me as...the voice of prophecy."

Rose lowered her sword and shook her head.

"You're crazy."

"You do not believe in prophecy, Ravager?"

"People make their own destiny."

"You are wrong." The girl said it more firmly than Rose expected. "Everything and everyone is here for a purpose that was assigned to them long before they were ever born."

"And your purpose is to be this 'voice of prophecy'?"

The hooded girl nodded.

"And what's _my_ purpose?"

"That I may not reveal. I can, however, start you down the road of your destiny."

Rose stubbornly shook her head.

"My destiny is here."

"But the person you seek is no longer within this city."

Rose's eyes widened.

"Then where-"

"Quiet, dear sister." The girl reached into her robe and pulled out an archaic-looking scroll. She read: "And when the Earth Angel receives her power, it will be a sign unto thee. Therefore, thou must advise the Predator to hasten to the birthplace of the Archangel, and to welcome into her company the Bird of Day and Night. For together they shall face the Gateway."

Rose's face wrinkled.

"That's pure gibberish."

"The truth must oftentimes be obscure." The self-proclaimed voice of prophecy paused. "Does it become clearer to know that you are the Predator and that the Bird of Day and Night is Robin?"

"Who is the Archangel and the Gateway?"

"The Archangel's identity need not concern you. The Gateway, however, is the one you know as Slade...your father."

Rose gasped and her hand tightened around the hilt of her sword.

"How did you-"

"That need not concern you, either." The girl turned away. "Go to Titans Tower and beguile Robin to join you. When you have done this, call me and I will guide you to your destination."

Rose's face made it no secret that she didn't like this. But, nevertheless, she asked:

"What are you called?"

The girl's face turned to the side.

"The name...Zillah...will suffice."

**ZHHHHHT!**

Zillah disappeared.

Bard, Amber, Nicole, Starfire and Tim were once again in a hotel room, this time in Nashville. Nicole and Starfire sat on one of the two beds in the room, Tim was leaning with crossed arms against a dresser and Amber and Bard sat on the other bed. Bard had his right arm comfortingly around Amber's shoulders, and the weary, dark circles underneath his eyes were hidden mostly by his glasses.

"Anyone wanna explain this to me now?" Tim asked. "Amber's in the hospital two steps away from death and now she's up and about like she's never been sick in her life. What's up with that?"

Starfire suddenly noticed that Bard's cross pendant was gone. She opened her mouth to ask about it, but she caught Bard's meaningful look. Despite her usual naivety, she understood immediately and held her tongue.

"It was a miracle." Bard purposely said it depracatingly. "But we can talk about that later. What _I_ want to know is who set up that bomb in the first place."

"You said that the explosion came from the kitchen." Nicole noted. "Maybe it was just an accident. Ya know, maybe someone left the gas on or something."

Bard shook his head.

"No, that blast was too strong for an ordinary kitchen explosion. Someone set it up. I'd bet my bottom dollar on it."

"Why bother trying to figure it out?" It was Amber. "Vengeance isn't the answer." She told them, though she was looking straight at Bard. "Everything's okay now, so let's just go."

Bard sighed. Sometimes Amber was a little too kind for her own good. Just like someone else he knew...

"It's not a question of vengeance, Amber. It's a question of necessity. What's to stop this from happening again?"

Amber looked down at her lap and leaned her head on Bard's shoulder. She didn't have an answer for that.

There was a brief moment of silence before-

"Shit, Jon! We're bein' dumbasses!"

Bard raised an eyebrow at over at Tim.

"Speak for yourself..."

"The Dragons are behind this!"

Bard froze. Tim was right. It all made sense.

"I was not aware dragons possessed the appropriate appendages for making and planting explosives."

"No, Star. It's the name of a gang...like the one's back home."

"...Ah, I see..." She said it sadly.

"They must'a followed us here from back home." Tim theorized.

"Then that's where we're goin'." Bard declared firmly.

'No!" Amber tugged on his arm. "They'll kill you!"

Bard smirked, but his eyes were fierce.

"I'd like to see them try..."

T-T-T-T-T-T-T

Not long later, the group was back in Nicole's yellow SUV. Nicole drove, Tim was in the passenger seat and Starfire sat in the middle seat. Amber was in the very back with the sleeping Bard using her thigh as a makeshift pillow. The cowboy tilted his hat forward to cover his face, but Amber had taken it away as soon as he was asleep.

"Awwww," Starfire cooed at him, probably what Bard was trying to avoid by covering his face. "He's so cuuuuuute!"

Tim muttered something under his breath from up front, but whatever he said didn't reach Starfire's or Amber's ears. Amber smiled at the Tammaranian.

"I don't think we've been introduced yet." She said politely. "I'm Amber."

"And I am called Starfire."

"She's a Teen Titan." Nicole called back over her shoulder.

"So's Bard." Tim added.

Amber blinked her light blue eyes...several times. Finally:

"Who's Bard?"

"Oh!" Starfire covered her mouth. "You know him as 'Jonny', correct?"

"Jonny's a _Titan?_" She looked down incredulously at Bard.

"I believe you are in need of an explanation..."

"Speak up!" Tim said from up front. "I wanna hear this, too! This story has _gotta_ be good!"

Starfire took in a deep breath.

"Bard arrived at our tower one morning and..." Starfire recounted how Bard had become a Titan Apprentice and, later on, a full-fledged Teen Titan and all the ordeals and experiences he had gone through with them. She shrewdly skipped the part about the cross pendant and Tim's criminal involvement, the second due to Tim himself telling her to do so in not so many words. When she was finished, Amber and Tim were staring dumbfounded at her. Nicole probably would have, too, had she not been preoccupied with keeping her eyes on the road.

"Jonny has a _sister?_"

"Jon's daddy is _who?_"

"Jonny's arm is _paralyzed?_"

Both Tim and Amber stared at Bard. The cowboy, as if sensing their amazed look even in his sleep, fidgeted slightly and snuggled closer to Amber. Amber, however, was looking at Starfire.

"Y-you and Jonny..." She whispered so only Starfire could hear. "You're close, aren't you?"

"We are very good friends, yes."

Amber nodded slowly.

"..Friends..." She repeated to herself and, once again, Bard shifted uneasily in his sleep.

Beast Boy sat cross-legged on the very edge of the couch, his thin eyes glued to the screen and his hands button-mashing the controller like crazy. In a super serious voice, he announced:

"I am a video-gaming _god_!"

"If you keep telling yourself that, BB, it might come true." Cyborg called from the kitchen where he was making a double-decker roast beef sandwich...with extra beef.

Meanwhile, Superboy had stood up angrily.

"You shot me in the back again, B!"

"It was an accident!" Beast Boy cackled.

"Three times in row?"

"My finger keeps slipping!"

**SWISH!**

The elevator doors opened and Beast Boy glanced over to see who had arrived.

_Oh...just a hot woman in a skin-tight costume._

Beast Boy shrugged it off and turned back to the video game.

_Wait a sec, dude...just a hot woman in a skin-tight costume?_

The changeling did a double take and leapt off the couch like a shot, his suddenly forgotten controller clattering to the floor. He fell on his knees and put his palms together.

"Jesus, Allah, Buddha...whatever. I know I'm not as big on faith as Bard is but, if she's for me, I'll pray ten times a day! Oh! And the video-gaming god remark was a joke. A joke!"

Just as Beast Boy was finishing his prayer, Superboy was already walking by him. He stopped beside the costumed girl, cooly put on his red tinted glasses and uttered:

"How you doin'?"

"Yo! What are ya'll punks-" Cyborg stopped at he peeked at them from the kitchen and saw the Ravager. He grinned. "Well...all right!"

The Ravager looked at the three boys.

"...Pathetic..." She sighed.

"So," Beast Boy said, waggling his eyebrows up at her. "What's a girl like you doing in a place like-DAH!"

The Ravager backslapped him away.

"I'm looking for Robin." She announced.

Beast Boy sat up, rubbing his head.

"Figures." He muttered disconsolately, he crawled over to the couch.

"He's not here." It was Raven, porting darkly into the room from a side wall.

"I'll wait." She shrugged and sat down on the couch next to Beast Boy and crossed her legs as if she planned to stay a while. Beast Boy, for his part, almost fainted.

"..." Raven fumed.

"I take it you don't approve?" The Ravager directed at her.

"...What do you want with Robin?"

The Ravager looked away.

"I almost don't believe it myself."

Raven's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Tell me, anyway." She grated.

"Very well." As the Ravager got deeper and deeper into her explanation, Raven's eyes grew larger and larger. When she was finished:

"What did you say the girl's name was again?" Raven asked her intently.

"Zillah,"

**ZHHHHHHT!**

The white-robed girl coalesced out of thin air.

"You called upon me?" She asked the Ravager. Then she turned and locked eyes with Raven.

"Zillah..." The Dark Sorceress intoned.

Everyone gulped.


	70. Starting Down the Road of Destiny

"_The hell with woodsheds. I'm gonna open up a king-sized can of redneck whoop-ass!" - Tim_

_**CHAPTER SEVENTY**_

_**STARTING DOWN THE ROAD OF DESTINY**_

Tim stepped out and joined Bard on the balcony adjoining their room in the hotel back in their hometown. They looked out silently at the beautiful scene of the sun setting behind the distant peaks until Tim finally broke the silence.

"Jon...are you all right man?" Surprisingly, and a bit uncharacteristically, he said it pensively.

Bard picked up on that immediately.

"What do you mean?" He asked, exhaling smoke from his cigarette. He held it in his right hand, his left dangling at his side.

Tim looked down at where his big hands gripped the railing.

"Starfire told us about you're escapades as a Titan...and the messed up stuff you've found out."

"...Like what?"

"Like you father for one."

**That would be me...**

Bard started visibly as the gravelly, evil voice echoed in his mind, almost dropping his cigarette.

**Without that damning necklace bearing **_**his**_** infernal presence, I have you all to myself...**

Meanwhile, Tim was trying to bring the cowboy back to reality.

"Jon...Jon! Are you all right?" Tim half yelled.

Bard blinked...several times.

"Y-y-yeah..." He finally stuttered slowly. "I'm fine."

"Look, Jon." Tim said it seriously. "You've been through a lot of serious shit lately. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I said I'm fine." Bard tried to shrug nonchalantly, but it was much more cumbersome an movement than he had meant it to be. "You're back to normal and I've found Amber again. What could be wrong?"

"You're arm's paralyzed again."

Bard's face became wary.

"My arm's been paralyzed for a long time now, Tim."

"Bullshit! I saw you use your left arm a dozen times yesterday. I'm big, not stupid."

Bard looked at him wryly.

"Nothing slips by you, does it?"

"Damn skippy! Now tell me what's goin' on."

Bard knew better than to try to keep information from his friend, so he told him; everything. He told him everything about the cross pendant: How it had cured his paralysis; How it had blocked the voice of Trigon...and how it had cured Amber.

"But when I put it on her." Bard was finishing up his explanation. "Something happened. I can't be entirely sure but...I think it actually went _into_ her."

"Like...sucked into her skin?"

Bard nodded.

"But don't tell Amber." He warned. "If she knew about the cross pendant, she'd blame herself for me not being able to use my arm. So keep it under your hat." Bard paused and corrected himself. "Er, under you beard."

Tim looked away and nodded seriously.

"I'll keep it on the down-low."

Bard grinned and chuckled at that.

"Word, Tim."

"Word, Jon."

They both were able to keep a straight face for about five seconds before they started laughing, but their laughter was reserved.

They still had more serious business to take care of.

Raven's eyes narrowed at the white-robed girl.

"Zillah..."

"Dudes...this can't be good." Beast Boy squeaked.

"Think we'll see a cat fight?" Superboy whispered to him.

Cyborg drove a meaningful titanium elbow into the the Boy of Steel's ribs.

"What are you doing here, Zillah?" Raven demanded.

"I seek to lead the Ravager and Robin down the road of prophecy."

"The same prophecy that claimed that I was the Antichrist?" Raven asked her scornfully.

Zillah shook her head.

"We both know that the prophecy you speak of was conjured by Brother Blood to further his own means. It possesed little significance."

"_Little_ significance?"

"It obtained a shred of truth, but I will not speak of it now. Know, however, that the path I lead the Ravager and Robin to will help your brother."

"...Half brother."

Zillah looked at her curiously, slightly surprised.

"You have yet to open your heart to your brother? If you do not connect to him soon, you will never get another chance, Raven."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I cannot say."

Cyborg stepped forward.

"Are you trying to say you can see the future?" He asked Zillah.

Zillah nodded.

"Minimally, I can, yes."

"Then what's going to happen tomorrow?" Superboy wanted to know.

"The sun will rise."

Superboy blinked.

"I cannot see the future as a whole, Boy of Steel." Zillah continued. "I can only foresee the events that lead to...another significant event."

Raven folded her arms.

"Which you can't tell us about, right?"

"Ah, even your anger cannot mask your intelligence for very long, Raven."

Raven's eyes seemed to turn to fire. It looked as if she were about to strangle Zillah any minute now...

But then the double doors leading into the main room opened with a 'swish' and Robin was there.

Amber, Nicole and Starfire to one bed and Bard and Tim to the other. The sleeping arrangements that night were a little strange, but they seemed to work out. At least, they did after Bard had put up with a least an hour of Tim's homophobic rantings and somehow avoided explaining to Starfire exactly what Tim meant by the terms 'faggots', 'queers', 'rainbows', 'homos', 'pillow humpers', 'fruitcakes', 'prostate pushers', 'butt-dart players', 'fudge packers' and 'Jeff Gordan fans'.

Now, Bard was laying in the bed beside Tim. But Tim was so far over that one of his legs was actually hanging off the bed. Bard didn't mine the extra room from the homophobic gesture, but he _was_ cold and Tim was hogging all the covers. Despite that, however, Bard soon found himself drifting off to sleep...

**BLAM!**

Bard was up to his feet in a heartbeat at the sound of the gunshot. But, after a few moment of blinking stupidly in the darkness of the hotel room, he realized it was just the backfire of a car driving by outside. Sighing, he walked over to the sliding doors of the balcony with his lame arm dangling at his side and quietly opened it and stepped out. He decided to light up a cigarette, figuring it would give him something to do while he waited for his adrenaline to ebb enough for him to go back to sleep.

While he was smoking his 'cowboy killer', he idly glanced down at the parking lot two floors below him...and froze. A long, black van had pulled up, and perhaps a dozen young men stepped out wearing ski masks. One of them was carrying what looked to be a can of gas. Bard immediately ran back into the hotel room and shook the sleeping Tim.

"Tim! Wake up!" He hissed at him as loud as he dared without waking up the girls.

"I already told you: I'm not gay, you bastard!" Tim muttered in his sleep.

Frustrated, Bard whopped him a good one in the arm and Tim started from sleep.

"That hurt, damn it!"

"Shhh!" Bard shushed him. "The Dragons are here."

Tim face grew grimly serious and he nodded tersely.

Both of them had slept in their clothes because they had nothing to change into, so they only paused long enough for Tim to put on his work boots and for Bard to pull on his cowboy boots. That task completed, Bard waved him forward and leapt off the balcony. Just before he hit the ground, he called up a wind to set him down easily. Tim, on the other hand, leapt bodily over the rail, hit the ground in a crouch and rolled heavily forward to cushion himself from the impact.

"Show-off," he grunted at Bard when he stood back up.

Bard, however, was looking around, puzzled.

"Where did they go?"

Tim opened his mouth, but he was interrupted by the sound of a van door sliding open and-

**BL-BL-BL-BLAM!**

A screaming hail of hot lead erupted in the air around them. Humming, Bard conjured up a sheet of ice between them and the van, giving them just enough time to find cover behind a nearby truck before the bullets tore down the cold reinforcement. After a moment or two of panting, Tim said:

"Now I know why you hate guns."

True, Bard had never allowed anyone in his group to carry firearms with him during his days as a Dragon himself, but the one thing he hated worse than the feeling he got while pointing a gun at someone was the feeling of someone pointing a gun at _him_.

**You were right to abhor guns, son. It really is much more fun to stick knives into people up close than to cut them down from far off. The sweet smell of blood is **_**sooooo**_** much sweeter up close...**

_Shut...up...!_

Bard, trying to ignore his father, turned to Tim.

"This isn't working. We have to find a way to get them out of that...van?" He stared.

Tim was growing as if the Bane Venom was pumping into him...but it couldn't have been. The tubes in his neck had been removed when he was put into the insane asylum back in Jump City. But nevertheless, he had grown at least a half a foot taller and his muscular arms were twice as thick as before.

"Cover me, Jon." His voice was only slightly deeper.

Bard nodded, hummed and began to blindly toss fireballs in the van's general direction.

**PH-PH-PHOOSH!**

Meanwhile, Tim had crept out from behind his cover and towards the back of the van. He stooped behind it for a moment to make sure he hadn't been seen. When he convinced himself he hadn't been, he reached down and grabbed hold of the van's bumper. He started to lift and the van's back tires came off the ground. The front tires, however, stubbornly conformed to gravity and refused to lift. Ignoring the started exclamations and curses coming from inside, Tim strained harder. Sweat started to pour down his face to collect in his beard.

Bard, still hidden behind the truck, saw Tim's plan and decided to help.

_#Wild as the wind, wild as the wind!#_

Invisible winds picked up again, but this time they coalesced underneath the van and helped Tim pick up the load. Finally, Tim had the vehicle over his head. He braced himself and-

**CRASHHHH!**

slammed the van hard back down into the pavement. He walked over to the door, wrenched it open and pulled one person out.

_One person?_

Bard heard heavy footfalls behind him and, sure enough, the rest of the masked gang member were running up to him. At least...all of them except for the one who had been carrying the gas can...

"Woodshed time..." The cowboy growled, even as he reached into his pocket with his one good hand and slipped on his adamantine knuckle.

"The hell with woodsheds." Tim said just as menacingly, stepping up beside his friend. "I'm gonna open up a king-sized can of redneck whoop-ass!"

Grinning savagely, Dwight walked out of the lobby of the hotel, leaving the bound and gagged clerk behind the counter. After the brief interrogation, he knew everything he needed to know. He held a gas can in one hand and a hotel key in the other.

It would be easy, he thought to himself. All he had to do was kill everyone in the room and then set fire to it. That would be fun all by itself, but maybe he could have a little _extra_ fun with his victims before he was forced to kill them...

Still grinning, the masked Dwight mounted the stairs, nonchalantly twirling the key around his finger.

Yes, a little extra fun was just what the doctor ordered...

T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T

Starfire awoke immediately at the sound of gunfire. Her emerald eyes popped open and she sat up in the dark. Nicole had woken up, too, she saw, and Amber-

**SCKCKCKRICK!**

In the silent room, the unmistakable sound of a key fitting into the doorknob seemed incredibly loud. Standing up, Starfire held a glowing green star bolt in her hand. The slowly creaked open and the person who walked in was wearing a black ski mask and carrying something in his hand. Starfire tensed to toss her star bolt at him but-

**CRASH!**

Amber was already there. She'd cracked him over the head with a ceramic lamp and the man was on the floor, unconscious.

Amber brought her hands to her mouth, shocked at what she'd done.

"S-sorry..." She simpered.

"I don't think he had honorable intentions, Amber." Nicole told her.

"S-still..." Amber objected, still a little jittery from what she'd done. "What I did wasn't very nice..."

During this exchange, Starfire was looking around.

"Friends," she asked. "Where are Tim and Jonny?"

Robin took a moment to stare at the two strangers in Titans Tower and take in Raven's deteriorating mood before he uttered:

"What's going on here?"

Zillah stepped forward before anyone else could answer.

"I have come here to inform you of this: Your destiny is to take the Ravager and confront Slade. I am here to transport you to the battlefield."

"Slade's no longer in the city?"

"Indeed, Robin." Zillah nodded. "He is many leagues to the south."

Beast Boy blinked.

"Um...leagues?"

"A form of archaic measurement." Raven answered him. "Roughly three miles."

Robin shook his head.

"Even if what you say is true, I can't leave the tower now. We're already down two Titans and that would leave the city undermanned-"

"Starfire and Bard are awaiting you on this battlefield."

For a long moment, the Boy Wonder said nothing. But then he turned to the Ravager.

"You're going, aren't you?"

The swordswoman nodded.

"I have business with Slade...or have you forgotten?"

"Then I _have_ to go..." Robin conceded.

"Psst!" Superboy whispered. "Did anyone else get that?"

Beast Boy and Cyborg shook their heads.

"Cyborg," Robin said, walking over to the big robot. "You're in charge while I'm gone. Try to keep the city in one piece until I get back."

Though Cyborg looked confused, he eventually nodded.

"You got it, man."

Raven stepped forward.

"You're going to trust her?" She asked Robin incredulously...or as incredulously at Raven could, at least.

"I'm not totally convinced." He admitted. "But if Slade really is where she says he is, I have keep an eye on the Ravager."

Raven folded her arms across her chest. It was obvious she didn't like this, but she decided to remain silent.

Robin turned his back on Raven.

"All right," he said. "Ravager, Zillah...let's go."

"As you wish," The white robed girl murmured.

And-

**ZHHHHHHHT!**

The ski-masked gang members formed a large ring around Tim and Bard. Most of them carried knives that glittered in the moonlight, and others held thick metal chains at their sides.

"These the two ex-Dragons?" One of them asked.

"I think so." Another of the gang members answered. "But be careful: They're supposed to be good."

The first one guffawed harshly.

"Yeah, right! I'm supposed to be afraid of a cowboy and his big girlfriend?"

Bard and Tim had been standing back to back, but when the cowboy heard that remark, his eyes went flat behind his dark glasses.

"I _know_ you didn't just call-"

"Haugh!"

The gang member were trained well. Instead of rushing a them one at a time, they all leapt forward as one man, brandishing knives and chains and pipes. But Bard had been ready for that. He held out his hands and sang:

_#They said goodbye at the break of damn 'cause you can't hold back the wind!#_

A gust of wind pushed out in all directions at once. The ring of lunging gang members were pushed back, falling perhaps five yards away in a strange, ski-masked, human circumference.

And that gave Tim and Bard the advantage they needed. Growling, they both ran forward to attack. Tim clubbed one gang member back to the ground with a meaty, downward swipe, and grabbed another in the very act of getting back to his feet. He pivoted, turned and tossed him with teeth-rattling force into the side of the wrecked black van.

Meanwhile, on his side of the fight, Bard had kicked one of the Dragons in the side while he was down and stomped the heel of his cowboy boot hard onto the hand of another that was pushing himself to his feet. The cowboy was rewarded with the sickening crunch of breaking finger bones.

Then, Bard turned just in time to see a larger gang member aiming a metal chain at him like a whip. He held up his right hand and the chain painfully wrapped around his forearm. He tugged hard, however, and the gang member stumbled towards him. Out of pure instinct, Bard tried to level him with a left hook...only to remember that his left arm was paralyzed. The momentum of the attempt, however, arced his lame arm out in a wide half-circle until it smacked the gang member upside the head with all force of a wet feather.

"...heh." Bard sweat dropped.

**YANK!**

The big gang member pulled hard on the chain that was still wrapped around Bard's forearm. The momentum of the chain unwrapping from his arm sent him spinning like a top through the air before landing hard on the concrete of the parking lot. Grinning, the gang member lifted the metal chain over his head again and whipped it to smack down on him.

**GRIP!**

Tim's big hand caught the weapon halfway through it's downswing. The thug stared at Bard's big friend in disbelief.

"Time to cash in your frequent flier miles..." Tim snarled. Then he tensed himself and flung the guy through the air.

**CL-CLANK!**

The gang member landed in the truck bed of a pick-up truck.

Tim took a few moments to catch his breath and, when he turned to Bard, he was back to his normal size. He reached down and helped the cowboy up.

"Is that all of them?" He asked.

Bard nodded.

"I think so but-" He suddenly someone behind him. He spun and arced his right, adamantine fist at whoever at was, but he stopped short when he realized it was a girl.

The nameless, ski-masked girl, however, didn't react with the same hesitation. She slashed at him with the switchblade knife. Bard tried to dodge out of the way, but she was too fast and too close. The only thing he had managed to do was pivot his body and, unwittingly, offer up his lame left arm as a target.

**SLASH!**

Blood flew, but Bard felt no pain. He hadn't felt the knife slice his left arm, but he knew it had all the same. Nonetheless, he wasted no time in popping his fist out and connecting solidly with the girl's forehead. She bonelessly collapsed to the ground.

"How's _that_ for equal rights?" He muttered.

**Now, wasn't that fun, son?**

Bard ignored him.

"Jonny!" Amber shrieked from across the parking lot when she saw the blood pouring down his arm. She bolted across the parking lot towards him with Nicole and Starfire trailing behind.

"It's not as bad as-" Bard tried to say when Amber reached him, but she ignored him.

"Oh, my God! What happened?" She reached forward to clutch his wounded arm. And that's when it happened.

Her hands started to glow; to shimmer with a golden, surreal aura.

"What-" Amber started, but she was lost for words. Dumbfounded, she and Bard watched as the glow from her hands closed the wound without a scar. Even the blood leaking down his arm disappeared.

Amber was amazed, to be sure, but Bard was even more so. Because he knew something that Amber did not:

Not only had she healed his cut...but she had also healed his paralysis. He stared at her in wonder.

"How did you-"

"I don't know..." She half-whispered, looking with awe down at her hands as if she had never seen them before. "I don't know..."

A few moments earlier, Robin and the Ravager had appeared on the far side of the parking lot andhad witnessed the healing event. Robin's attention was almost solely upon Starfire's floating form, but the Ravager was looking closely at Amber with Zillah's prophecy echoing in her mind...along with a shrewd suspicion.


	71. Showdowns

_Someone really oughta concrete over that skylight..." - Blue_

_**CHAPTER SEVENTY ONE**_

_**SHOWDOWNS**_

Miracles.

Some believed they never existed.

Others believed they simply didn't happen anymore.

But Bard knew better on both accounts.

Lately, the cowboy's life had been chock full of miracles. Some had been fairly commonplace, and others had been so awesome that they had defied even _his_ belief at the time.

First off, he'd found Raven, his sister. He had always believed himself to be an orphan, and finding family of any kind was a miracle in and of itself.

The realization of having 'powers'.

Raven being revived from death beside a nameless, raging river.

The multiple healing events surrounding the gold cross pendant.

Hell, he even considered jumping a ramp at two hundred miles and hour on a motorcycle and landing safely on the top of an eighteen-wheeler transfer truck a miracle.

And of course, he had found Amber again...

And now, Bard was right in the smack middle of another miracle. Amber had healed his bleeding gash and his paralysis with nothing but the gentle touch of her hands. And he'd never felt more complete. He had his health and he had his love. Amber was still looking down at her hands in a mixture of awe and fear, but Bard reached out, took them and pulled her into a tender, grateful hug.

Meanwhile, Starfire had gasped in delight, her emerald eyes lighting up.

"Robin!"

**SWOOSH!**

With speed rivaling Superboy's, Starfire was upon Robin in a flash. The Tammaranian's strength hadn't diminished in the slightest since her and Bard's departure from Titans Tower but, nonetheless, Robin did not plead for air. Over the shoulders of their embraced companions, Bard and Starfire locked eyes with each other. They both smiled, but tinges of slight regret glittered in their eyes. A million 'what-ifs' flashed through Bard's mind before he mentally pushed them away.

**If you played your cards right, son, I bet you could get both of them in bed...**

That was the one thing that Amber's healing touched hadn't changed. Bard ground his teeth in frustration.

_Damn it! I'm trying to have a moment here!_

**Enjoy them while you can...**

Bard froze.

_What do you mean by that?_

His father refused to answer.

Before he let himself dwell on that, he forced himself to notice the woman standing near Robin. Although he was spoken for, he was still a man, so he noticed as well that her skin tight costume left little to the imagination. He broke his hug with Amber, but he draped his arm across her shoulders before turning to Robin.

"Um...who's your friend?"

Robin hesitated for just a moment before he answered.

"Her name's Ravager."

"Ravener?"

"_Ravager_," she corrected him herself.

"Say..." Tim mused, looking over her figure. "Where'd you get that get-up?"

Nicole wasted no time in elbowing him in the ribs.

"Hey!" Tim defended himself. "I was just asking so I could get you one!"

"...oh." She blushed.

Amber had somewhat regained her composure.

"You're bad, Tim." She told him.

Tim winked at her.

"Don't you know it!"

"Tim?" Robin asked. "But how-"

"Loooooong story, Robin." Bard told him. The cowboy suddenly realized some introductions might be in order. "Robin, this is Nicole."

Nicole smiled shyly at the Boy Wonder.

"And this...is Amber." Bard finished.

Robin looked at the girl penetratingly.

"_The_ Amber?" He asked.

"She's the only one I know." Bard shrugged.

"I-it's nice to meet you, Mr. Robin." Amber greeted him.

Bard looked down at her.

"There's no reason for that 'mister' business, Amber."

Robin nodded politely at her, but then he looked hard at Bard.

"We need to talk."

The cowboy winced noticeably.

"Please," Starfire pleaded with him, tugging on his arm in little girl fashion. "Do not be angry with Bard. His departure from the city, while sudden, was for a very good reason."

Robin sighed.

"This is why you brought her along, isn't it?" He asked wryly. "You knew she could get you out of trouble."

Bard smiled sheepishly, but Robin was already looking around.

"Is there someplace we can go that's a little more private?"

"I reckon...as long as you don't mind sleeping on the floor."

T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T

Bard stopped just inside the door of the hotel room.

"Um..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Why is there a unconcious guy laying in the floor?" He blinked. "And what happened to the lamp?"

Nicole laughed wickedly.

"Amber walloped him with it."

Amber managed to look ashamed, but Bard was grinning at her.

"Good job,"

Bard waited a minute or two for everyone to settle down, (and for Tim to get rid of the inert body) and then he got down to business.

"So..." He said to Robin. "How'd you know to find us down here?"

The Boy Wonder hesitated for just a moment.

"...Zillah brought us here."

"_Zillah?"_

"You mean the girl that poisoned Starfire?" Amber asked.

Bard blinked at her.

"How did you know that?"

"Starfire told me."

Before the cowboy could question her any further, the Ravager spoke up.

"She said Slade was here. Where is he?"

"Slade's here?" Bard groaned and looked up. "Why does God insist on making my life so complicated?"

"Jonny!" Amber admonished him.

"It was just a figure of speech, honey..."

"I don't care. You still shouldn't talk about God that way."

Bard sighed.

"All right," He said placatingly to her. "I'm sorry."

Tim leaned down to beside Nicole's ear.

"Now you know what I mean when I say 'hen-pecked'." He murmured to her.

"I think it's sweet." Nicole protested.

"It's disgusting." Tim snorted immediately.

Bard hesitantly cleared his throat.

"Ahem," he gave Tim a sour look before he said: "If Slade is here, it's almost a given that he'll be with the Dragons."

"The Dragons?" Robin asked.

"They're the local gang 'round here."

"Where?" Ravager asked him shortly.

"Hm?" The unexpected question had come a little too fast for Bard.

"Where are they?"

"Oh! They got an abandoned building downtown on Wilson Street. Right next to the auction house."

The cowboy missed her small smirk at that because-

"An auction house?" Robin repeated.

"You wouldn't understand." Bard shrugged. "It's a small town thing."

Robin looked slightly offended at that, but nevertheless he said:

"Well, let's get some sleep. We can pay these Dragons a courtesy call tomorrow."

"Why not go now?" The Ravager demanded.

"We're tired. We'll be a lot better after a good night's sleep."

The Ravager looked like she might protest, but then she nodded.

Yawning, Bard walked over to the bed he and Tim had been trying to sleep on earlier...But the Ravager had already beaten him to it.

"Was there something?" She deadpanned at him.

"..."

"..."

"...Reckon not..." He turned to find a comfortable spot on the floor, but the Ravager stopped him when she said:

"What's your name?"

"...Bard."

"Tell me, Bard." She asked. "Do you believe in destiny?"

The cowboy glanced at a fully sane Tim and the bright, vibrant life that filled Amber's body.

"Completely."

Amber, Nicole and Starfire were once again sleeping in the same bed, so Robin, Tim and Bard were stuck with the floor. There was plenty of room beside the Ravager on her bed, but, prudently, none of the boys decided to risk it. Amber slept on the far left side of her bed, and Bard slept on the floor just beside her, unconsciously wanting to be as close to her as possible. His eyes were closed, but they fluttered underneath his eyelids as he dreamed.

In his dream, it seemed as if Zillah was before him. But she looked older and more wise somehow, and the purple robes he remembered were now a bright white.

"Can you hear me, Bard?"

The cowboy nodded in his sleep.

"Then listen to my words, for they are of great importance." She recited: "And when the Earth Angel receives her power, it will be a sign unto thee. Therefore, thou must advise the Predator to hasten to the birthplace of the Archangel, and to welcome into her company the Bird of Day and Night. For together they shall face the Gateway."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It is a passage of prophecy. And for the people it assigns tasks to, it gives them a grander identity."

"I'm the Archangel, ain't I?"

"You were ever perceptive."

"And what's my task?"

"Now, you are to prevent the one you know as 'the Ravager' from taking Slade's life."

"And after that?"

"Your ultimate task, Archangel, is to do battle upon Satan."

Bard's muscles tensed.

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"Bravely," came Zillah's unhelpful reply. "Now, the Predator is gone. You must follow her. Wake up."

And he did. His eyes opened to the inky darkness of the hotel room. His eyes automatically sought Amber's face, and he saw that she was sleeping peacefully.

_...What a weird dream. I must have Zillah on the brain..._

That thought shrank into insignificance, however, when he looked at the other bed and realized it was empty. The Ravager was gone.

_It wasn't a dream..._

The cowboy quickly got dressed, stepped over to the window and called up a wind to lift him to the sky. In his haste, he failed to realize that Robin was gone, too.

The Ravager had asked the cowboy directions to the Dragons' headquarters for a reason. She had snuck out of the hotel room as soon as everyone was asleep, and now she stood on top of the crumbling building beside a skylight. It was almost identical to what Robin had described as 'Slade's old haunt'. The Ravager didn't care about her father's taste in architecture, however. Before this night was over, his only taste would be the bitter, copper taste of his own blood. She silently removed a window pane from the skylight and descended like a spectre into the large, dark room below.

She landed in a crouch on a thick, blue mat and paused for a moment to allow her eyes to adjust to the dimness. Then she gracefully uncoiled her body and stepped forward stealthily in a half crouch...

And Slade watched.

The villain, dressed in his usual somber, unitarian garb of black and brown, stood in the darkest shadow of the room, his single eye trained on the Ravager. That haunting orb followed her as she move; as she searched with her eyes and tried to actually 'feel' her surroundings. All the while, her hand was clamped firmly on the hilt of her silver rapier.

"Was there something I could do for you, child?"

The Ravager whirled around, her teeth grit and her hand still on her rapier. She searched the shadows with her hidden eyes.

"Slade?"

"You're well informed." Slade purred, stepping into sight. "What can I do for you?"

"Die," she spat so vehemently that Slade actually seemed taken aback. "I'm here to kill you."

Slade seemed to regain his composure.

"An ambitious goal." He commented. "Will you permit me to know your name before you kill me?"

"I am the Ravager."

"Very well, child." Slade reached behind his back and almost lazily brought out and brandished a collasible staff. He fell into a fighting stance, but then he seemed to stop. The eye slits of the Ravager's mask narrowed suspiciously.

**SWOOSH!**

The Ravager leapt aside just in time to avoid the cannonball-like strike. Her attacker landed on his feet and slid to a stop before her. He was a greasy-looking older man with a noticeable hunchback and a cast eye that gleamed in the moonlight.

"Meet Blue." Slade introduced him. "He's quite the accomplished fighter. If you can defeat him, then perhaps we'll talk more about my impending death." He turned and walked away.

"I'm not finished with you!" Ravager tried to lunge forward after him, but Blue blocked her.

"Ya know ya could just leave now." Blue shrugged, his deformity emphasizing the action. "Dat way, nobody gits hurt..."

The Ravager sniffed and drew her sword.

"You're the only one who-"

She was interrupted as something descended on Blue; something with a flapping cape and a eye mask. Blue waited patiently, sidestepped and took hold of the metal-tipped boot Robin had been set on driving into his face. Then he spun and tossed the Boy Wonder across the room. Robin landed on his hands, tensed his body, flipped and slid to a stop back on his feet.

"Ah, I git it." Blue said, looking from Robin to the Ravager. "You wanna outnumber me."

But the Ravager ignored him. Instead, she looked at Robin while keeping her rapier pointed at Blue.

"If you want to help now, fine. But Slade is _mine_."

Robin frowned, but chose not to reply. Instead, he brought out his bo-staff. Blue, for his part, was unarmed.

The Ravager and Robin charged simultaneously, their weapons poised over their heads. Blue ducked, and the bo staff and the rapier collided over his head. Before they could disentangle their weapons, Blue stood on his head and kicked out in two opposite directions at the same time.

**WH-WHUMP!**

The Ravager and Robin were sent skidding backwards, but Robin recovered first. He charged back in, his staff swinging. Blue ducked under one swipe and jumped over another aimed at his legs. He sidestepped a jab, but Robin held out his staff just a second too long. In a flash, Blue gnarled hands came up and gripped it. He pivoted, popped his hips and flung the Boy Wonder head-long into the Ravager. The two fell down in a heap, but they leapt right back up to their feet.

"The offer for ya to leave with no harm done is still open..." Blue suggested to them.

Growling, the Ravager rushed forward. Blue avoided her rapier, but he couldn't avoid the pump kick that hit him directly under the jaw. The deformed man performed a backhand spring to minimize the impact, though, and in doing so planted both his feet into Ravager's chest.

"He's starting to piss me off..." The Ravager snarled, bringing a hand up to her injured chest.

"We're underestimating him."

"You're also using the wrong strategy." It was Bard, floating down from the roof. "This is a fight, now a martial arts competition."

Blue buried his face in his hands.

"Someone really oughta concrete over that skylight..." He sighed. But then he got a better look at Bard. "J-Jonny?" Is that you?"

"You need to get outta here, Blue." The cowboy told him. "It's time to renounce your Dragon membership. This time tomorrow, there will won't _be_ any Dragons."

Blue shook his head.

"I can't do that, Jonny. Mr. S-"

"His name is Slade."

"You don't have to worry about Slade." The Ravager said coldly. "_He_ won't be here this time tomorrow either."

"This is your last chance, Blue!" Bard called out to him. "I know what you did for Amber! And I'm grateful; More grateful than I can say. But right now, I need you to get outta Dodge."

Blue spread out his gnarled hands.

"I have nowhere else to go. You know that, Jonny. This is the only place I've ever belonged."

Bard let out a sigh that was somewhere between frustration and regret.

"You're not giving me a whole lot of choice here, Blue."

"I be knowin' that..."

Bard reluctantly turned to Robin and the Ravager.

"All right, I reckon we-" He stopped himself abruptly, blinking from underneath his glasses. "...Where's the Ravager?"

Robin slammed his fist into his palm.

"She must have slipped away to go after Slade." He turned to Bard. "Can you take care-"

"Yeah," the cowboy nodded, knowing what he was going to say. "Go."

The Boy Wonder sprinted off through the doorway across the room.

"Ya know, Jonny...I respect whatcha doin' now."

Bard opened his mouth to reply, but Blue was already lunging at him.

"Haugh!"

Bard leapt out of the way, but Blue landed in the spot where the cowboy had been, flexed and dove at him again. Bard ducked and Blue slid on his feet across from him.

"You're a lot quicker than ya used to be." Blue commented from his crouched, fighting stance.

"I've got all kind of new tricks under my hat..."

"Don'tcha mean 'up your sleeve'?"

Bard shrugged, reared back his hand and-

**PH-PH-PH-PHOMB!**

and started tossing fireballs at the hunchback.

Blue agilely avoided the fiery attacks by flipping, cartwheeling and performing various other acrobatics across the room with an athleticism that belied his deformed body. He wasn't even out of breath.

"Ya ain't even trying hard." Blue accused the cowboy.

"Neither are you."

A pause.

"...Slade's gonna kill your friends. Ya know that, right?"

"I won't let him."

Blue shook his head.

"You wouldn't make a difference, you'd just git yourself killed along with'em... Besides, you have to get by me, first."

_He's trying to protect me..._

Nevertheless, Bard cocked his head to the side grimly.

"You're right."

The cowboy streaked forward on a current of air.

**SWOOSH!**

The Ravager ran down twisting hallways with her boots clanking against the floor. Her blood and adrenaline pumped strongly through her veins and the echoing of her heartbeat rang in her ears. Slade would be within the reach of her glinting, lethally sharp rapier soon and she would get her revenge. Sweet vengeance...

The Ravager finally caught up to Slade in a long, dark hallway with creaking wooden floors. She held up her sword, ready for battle.

"Slade!"

The villain turned to face her slowly. His single visible eyes was widened in surprise.

"...Surely you didn't defeat Blue _that_ quickly..."

Just then Robin sprinted in and slid to a stop beside the Ravager.

"Ah," Slade intoned knowingly. "Now I see. You brought reinforcements. I'm disappointed."

"I didn't come here for your approval!"

"I know." Slade nodded slightly. "You came here to kill me." He paused. "Tell me child, what ever happened to ignite this great hatred you have inside for me?"

The Ravager's legs tensed.

Her shoulder straightened.

She slashed her rapier through the air.

She grit her teeth.

Inhaled.

"I was _born_..."


	72. Lilies and Roses

_"Now that we've got the chicken-livered ones outta the way, who want to be the first one to bend over so I can shove my foot up their ass?" - Tim_

_**CHAPTER SEVENTY TWO**_

_**LILIES AND ROSES**_

Absolutely no one, with the possible exception of Terra, knew Slade better than Robin. The Boy Wonder has spent the better part of the a year trying to track him down, had fought against him countless times and had once even fought _alongside_ him during the brief time where he had been forced to be the villain's 'apprentice'. Robin was extremely knowledgeable of Slade's fighting style, talents, habits and even his mannerisms. But now despite all that, finding himself in a hallway in a gang base within a city he didn't even know the name of, he saw something flicker in Slade's single eye that he had never seen before:

Uncertainty.

The Boy Wonder didn't dwell on theat revelations, however, because it was the perfect time to strike. Two battle cries, one feminine and one masculine, blended together perfectly as Robin and the Ravager sprang forward, brandishing rapier and bo staff.

**CL-CLANK!**

Slade quickly brought his full attention back to the business at hand and held up his own staff horizontally. The pole caught the two weapons, but the force of the attacks sent him skidding backwards.

Robin and the Ravager were relentless. They continued to push and Slade's elbows began to buckle under the strain. Inexorably, his staff came closer to his chest, along with the sharp end of the rapier which seemed to have targeted the eye hole in his mask.

"Hraugh!"

With a mighty heave, Slade drove them back. Robin flipped right back at him, but Slade ducked under the heel kick and brought up his staff to block another strike from the Ravager's rapier. A moment later, he kicked blindly behind him and connected with Robin who had been in the act of darting back into the fight. True, Robin knew Slade, but Slade knew Robin just as well.

"So," Slade said to the Ravager almost conversationally as he held back her sword with his staff. "However did Robin persuade you into becoming a Titan?"

"Don't insult me." The Ravager snarled out from between grit teeth. She disengaged her sword and tried to sweep his legs, but Slade leapt over the attack and landed behind her. The Ravager half turned-

**WH-WHUMP!**

Slade buried his fist into her abdomen, pivoted and buried another into her spine. The swordswoman ragdolled through the air and rolled limply to a stop. Slade turned and caught Robin's gloved fist in his palm and turned it sharply.

**CR-CRACK!**

His cartilage popping and bones straining, Robin winced, giving the villain enough time to fling him into the Ravager.

"You disappoint me, children." Slade told them as they were getting back to their feet. "Even with your combined hatreds, you've yet to touch me..."

"Haugh!" Robin tossed a trio of exploding discs at the villain. Slade sidestepped them, but the concussion of the explosion behind him in the narrow hallway propelled him forward...right into the Ravager's slashing rapier.

**SLASH!**

Slade clutched his bleeding chest in disbelief. He looked up at the Ravager, who was already in the air with her foot stretch out.

**WHAM!**

The flying kick his Slade in the chest, and the villain was catapulted backwards. His body splintered through the door at the end of the hallway. Robin sprinted through the remnants of the door with the Ravager close on his heels.

The adjoining room was as large as the one they had entered before and a narrow balcony was just beyond the door. Robin leaned over the rusty guardrail and saw Slade lying semi-motionless on the floor fifteen or so feet below. He turned to Ravager, just in time to see the hilt of her rapier blurring at him.

**THUMP!**

The Boy Wonder went down hard, feeling hot blood trickling down his forehead. He tried weakly to rise, but the Ravager mercilessly clubbed him again.

**THUNK!**

Satisfied that the Titan Leader was out for the count, the Ravager nimbly leapt over the guardrail to stand over her father.

She still had business to settle...

Bard streaked at Blue on a current of wind.

**SWOOSH!**

Blue flipped away from the cowboy's attack and leapt at him with an attack of his own. Bard waited and tried to level him with a big right punch, but Blue somehow dodged the adamantine fist in mid-air, grabbed the cowboy's outstreched arm and used his momentum to fling him into a wall.

**THUMP!**

Bard hit back first and, as soon as his eyes refocused, he saw Blue's feet aiming for him. He pushed/spun himself away, and Blue's feet smacked the wall where he'd been a moment before. But the hunchback vaulted off the wall and spun his feet towards Bard's face.

**WHAP!**

The next thing Bard knew, he was sliding on his back across the floor. He put his palms down behind his head and rolled backward to his feet. He took a moment to catch his breath, even though he knew every second worked against him. Blue wasn't necessarily trying kill or even incapacitate him, he was only trying to buy time. Blue thought that, if he allowed Bard to reach Slade, that the villain would kill him. And the cowboy couldn't really dispute that theory. But nonetheless...

_# And all I wanna do it watch the wind blow by... #_

To Bard's complete surprise, Blue somehow managed to leap over the gust of wind he threw at him. The cowboy tried to redirect it, but it was too late.

**THWUMP!**

Blue cannonballed into his chest. Bard slid back, hit the opposite wall and dove right back at him with a right hook that would have knocked anyone else's block off. But Blue somehow managed to spin to minimize the impact and back kicked Bard in the abdomen. The teen super hero bent over sharply.

"Sorry, Jon-Boy..." Blue lifted up Bard's face and drew back his fist for the finishing blow, but the cowboy had been ready:

**POKE!**

His thumb jabbed sharply in the Blue's eye. The hunchback stumbled back and clutched at it, which gave Bard ample time to measure him up and-

**BAM!**

This time, the punch hit solidly. Blue was thrown sideways and sent flip-flopping across the floor. Bard walked over to him, humming under his breath. Suddenly, his adamantine knuckles had started sparking as electricity arced through them.

"No, Blue." Bard said it a little sadly. "_I'm_ sorry."

**WH-ZKRICT-AM!**

Smoking, Blue lay motionless. Bard stared at him for a moment, but the he turned and loped towards the doorway Robin had exited.

Tim was _still_ swearing under his breath. The string of expletives had started when the big man woke up to find Jonny, Robin and the hot chick with the Zorro-looking costume missing and hadn't diminished significantly since. He had only stopped his sour mutterings briefly to tell Amber, Nicole and Starfire, in no incertain terms, that they would _not_ be coming with him.

The girls had ignored him.

He was seated behind the wheel of the damn yellow truck still muttering to himself when Nicole poked him from the passenger seat.

"Where are we going?"

"Where else? To the Dragons' set up." Tim kept his eyes on the road. "None of the gang members actually live there, but Slade might decide to call in a few...especially the ones who paid us a visit earlier."

"So we must prevent these troubled youths from reaching their surrogate home so that our friends will not be overwhelmed with their superior numbers?"

"More or less, Sunflower." Tim shrugged.

"It's _Starfire_!" Nicole whopped him in the arm.

Tim whistled.

"Woo hoo. Big difference."

"I hope Jonny's okay..." Amber fretted from the back.

"You need not worry about Bard, friend Amber." Starfire assured her. "He is quite proficient in striking donkeys with his feet."

There was complete silence in the car before-

"HARHAHHAHAHAH!" Tim burst out laughing and slapped his knee until tears came from his eyes. When he finally got his glee under control he said: "Hoo boy...I like you, Sunflower."

Starfire smiled slightly.

"I enjoy your presence as well...Tina."

The girls immediately filled the truck with girlish, high-pitched laughter, even as Tim almost swerved off the road.

The Ravager looked down at Robin, lying unconscious on the catwalk. He was lying on his stomach, with his black and yellow cape draped over him like some kind of funeral shawl. The Ravager actually felt a bit of guilt slip into her mind, but she quickly pushed it aside. She had more important matters to deal with. She easily vaulted over the catwalk railing and landed gracefully beside Slade's downed form.

"...Who are you?" He forced the question up at her.

"I told you," said the swordswoman coldly, her silver rapier flashing in her hands. "I am the Ravager."

"You're going to kill me, child." He brought his gloved hand to his slashed and wounded chest as if in emphasis of that statement. "So fulfill my dying wish: Let me see your face."

The Ravager stared at him for a long time from behind the red eye slits in her mask. Finally, deliberately, she brought her hand up to just above her nose where the mask ended and lifted it up and back. Immediately, her wealth of shimmering white hair swooped down to frame her blue eyes.

Slade gasped.

"Lili?"

**WHUMP!**

Rose kicked him hard in the side.

"How _dare_ you speak my mother's name? _You're _the reason she's dead!" She raised the sword up and thrust it down at him.

**GRIP!**

Slade caught the weapon just before the point of it could penetrate his chest. Overpowering her, he wrenched it away, sending the girl stumbling. When she turned back to him, she was met with a roundhouse kick for her efforts.

**BAM!**

The Ravager slid across the floor. She rested her forehead against the smooth, cold concrete floor, panting.

**YANK!**

Her head was forced up sharply and Slade knelt beside her, one hand full of her hair and the other pressing the rapier blade to her throat.

"Lili is dead?" He interrogated her.

"...Yes, someone came to her, demanding her to contact _you_. She refused and..." She didn't finish.

"Who!" Slade demanded.

"It doesn't matter...I killed him."

Slade paused.

"...And you claim to be my daughter?"

The Ravager's teeth grit.

"I _am_ your daughter."

Slade roughly yanked her by her hair across the floor from him and slid her rapier, bouncing and clanking, to her feet.

"Then get up and prove it." He ordered her harshly. He picked up his metal bo staff from where it had slipped from his grasp earlier.

Stooped before her weapon and with tears of anger in her eyes, the Ravager snatched up her rapier and lunged.

"_ARGGGGH!"_

"Just in time..." growled Tim as he pulled the yellow SUV onto the road that led past the Dragons' hideout. The bright headlights blinded the fifteen or so teenagers dressed in black that were making their way up to the building. They looked vulnerable somehow, with their arms raised futilely to block the light and trying to gaze into the car. But that didn't bother Tim none.

"Stay here." He ordered sharply as he put the truck in park and opened the door.

"But-" Nicole started.

"No buts," Tim ordered, cutting her off. "Stay here, all of you."

He stepped out of the truck, only to see that Starfire was beside him.

"Didn't I tell you to stay-" He blinked. "Oh, right. Titan thing. Didn't think someone as cute as you could kick ass." He paused. "Just don't use any of those green fireball things like you do on TV, hear? We don't want to attract any attention."

"One hundred and four!"

Tim looked at her funny, but then he shrugged.

"C'mon, Sun-" He stopped himself. "Starfire."

The alien giggled mindlessly as she floated after him. By the time the two got between the building and the gang members, Tim had 'grown' a foot taller and his clothes stretched tight against his muscles.

"Hey!" One of the Dragons called out. "It's that big guy from the hotel that-"

"Kicked you asses?" Tim finished for him. "That would be me."

"Shit! It's a Titan!" One of them gasped, pointing obviously at Starfire. Then he took off running with two others close behind.

"Go get'em!" Tim told Starfire. "If they get away, they'll just bring more Dragons!"

Starfire looked uncertainly at the still dozen strong group before them.

"But will you be able to-"

"I'll take care of them. Go!"

The cute Tammaranian nodded and swooped off after them, leaving Tim alone.

"So," Tim cracked his neck and then his knuckles, his voice deeper than usual. "Now that we've got the chicken-livered ones outta the way, who want to be the first one to bend over so I can shove my foot up their ass?"

No one stepped forward.

After a moment, one of them, probably the leader, looked back at his comrades.

"What the hell are you standing there for? Go get'em! He doesn't have the cowboy here to help him this time!"

Heartened by that fact, the gang members started to approach Tim cautiously. The big man let the closest attacker get about ten feet away from him before he nonchalantly up rooted a stop sign and drew it back like a baseball bat...

It was a good thing the Dragon was wearing dark pants.

**CLANG!**

The thug arced through the air and hit hard against the SUV. Amber shrieked in surprise from inside, and Nicole, for her part, cheered her man on. She could bitch about the large dent in her truck door later.

**CL-CLANG!**

Tim took out two more of the gang members with his improvised club, but by then the others had swarmed him. He batted away a couple with his huge arms, but a few more had managed to outflank him and leapt on his back. He reached over his shoulder and plucked one off, tossing him away, but two others had looped a heavy chain around his neck from behind. The big man went down on one knee. Nicole opened the truck door...

"Ra-augh!" Tim jerked forward and stood back up in one motion, flinging the two chain holders forward to land hard in the street. He turned and saw a girl behind him; the girl that had snuck up behind and cut Bard with the knife. She smirked.

"You wouldn't hit a girl, now wou-"

**WHACK!**

Tim smacked her senseless.

"Stop right there!"

Tim turned and stepped towards the speaker, but he pulled himself up short. The two remaining Dragons had roughly grabbed Amber and Nicole from behind, switchblades poised in their hands.

"Don't try nothing funny, big man!" The other one sneered. "You better give us what we want or-" The thug stopped in mid-sentence, looking confused. He looked over at his partner. "Um...what do we want?"

"We want _him_ not to hurt us, jackass!"

"...oh, right."

Tim sighed. The fact that Nicole and Amber's lives rested in the hands of these two ass-clowns didn't set well with him.

"Drop the knives and I'll let you go." He told them. He closed his eyes and, a moment later, he was back to normal size.

The Dragons looked warily at each other, but then they slowly lowered the weapons and took off running towards a nearby alley. They disappeared into it for a grand total of two seconds before they were flung back out into the street. Then Starfire swooped out and picked them up by the backs of their shirts with one hand, holding three unconscious Dragons in the other. When she sat them down, one of the fleeing Dragons looked at Tim with an accusatorial look.

"You said you'd let us go."

Tim shrugged.

"I did." He absently buffed his nails on the front of his shirt. "I didn't vouch for her, though."

"But-"

Tim clubbed him in the temple with the flat of his fist and then turned to the lone conscious Dragon.

"Are you feeling chatty, too?"

The Dragon mutely shook his head.

"Ah, well..."

Tim clubbed him anyway.

**CL-CL-CL-CL-CL-CL-CLANK!**

The Ravager's rapier clanked off Slade's bo staff again and again and again. Slade was slowly retreating from her pressing attack, blocking with an almost detached concentration.

"You can't be my offspring." Slade intoned even as he blocked another thrust. "You can't even touch me..."

"Haugh!" The Ravager arced a high swipe of her rapier at Slade and, when he raised his staff to block it, she kicked out with her foot. Her ankle rest on his shoulder with her foot behind his bed. Slade only had the time to widen his eye in surprise before she pulled his head forward into her fist.

**WHAM!**

Slade stumbled back, turned and leapt back up onto the catwalk.

"Very good, child." The villain congratulated her. "It's a pity I'm no longer in need of an apprentice. You would have done nicely.'

"I'd _never_ work for you." The Ravager snarled.

"Hmm...my first apprentice said the same."

He leapt off the catwalk and arced a flying kick at her. The Ravager dodged, but she couldn't get out of the way of his follow-up hook. She stumbled an threw a blind punch back. Slade easily caught it and threw her roughly to the ground. In the same motion, he wrenched the rapier away from her. In a flash, he had it pointed at her throat again.

"I've killed many people in my time." Slade said, standing over and digging the point of the rapier into the hollow of her throat. "But this is the only murder I might regret. Farewell, child. Say hello to Lili for me." His shoulder tensed...

**PHOMB!**

The fireball hit dead on, causing Slade to stumble back and drop his weapons. He looked up just in time to see Bard rushing him on a current of wind.

**BAM!**

The cowboy buried his fist deep in Slade's abdomen and followed it up with a sharp knee coming up against his mask. He tried for a kick, but his luck ran out there. Slade caught the cowboy boot in his hands and turned sharply, sending three-sixtying to the floor.

"Oof!" As he tried to regain his lost air, Bard looked and saw that the Ravager was stalking up behind the unaware Slade with her rapier posed to strike. She was going to kill him!

_No!_

_# She came onto him like a slow moving cold front! #_

**CHING!**

The ice wall materialized in front of the Ravager in mid-leap. She hit it, fell and slid away, her rapier skittering across the floor. Meanwhile, Bard had gotten back to his feet with his fists clenched around his adamantine knuckles, ready to fight...only, there was no one to fight.

Slade was gone.

"_Rrrrrrrr-ARGH!"_

The cowboy found himself on the wrong side of the Ravager's angry fist.

**WHACK!**

"You let him get away!" She raged down at him.

Bard got up...again.

"Killing him isn't the answer, Ravager." He stopped when he suddenly noticed she wasn't masked. Despite the red eyes slits he had seen earlier, he found himself thinking absently that she had pretty eyes. "Um..." He pointed.

The Ravager understood in a split second. She instantly reached back and snatched down her mask. There was an awkward silence between them for a moment until-

"...Ugh..." It was Robin, coming to up on the catwalk.

Bard looked up at him and then back to the Ravager.

"C'mon, let's go-" He stopped himself abruptly.

The Ravager was gone.

"Damn it." He curse under his breath. "People have to stop doing that to me."

Then he shrugged it off and loped up to the catwalk to help Robin.


	73. Girl Trouble

_"I lack the sufficient genitalia to keep up my part of the conversation with the three of you." - Raven_

_**CHAPTER SEVENTY THREE**_

_**GIRL TROUBLE**_

Beast Boy was bored. And when the changeling was bored, bad things happened.

It was Robin's fault, really. The city had been quiet lately anyway ever since the bank robbery, and the Boy Wonder had taken care of any incidental crimes on his lone patrols. And that had left Beast Boy stuck in the tower. He'd spent most of his time playing video games but, even though he loved them almost more than life itself, even they couldn't hold the little green man's attention forever.

Bad things happened when Beast Boy was bored. Case in point: Before the Titans meeting with Thunder and Lightning, he had spent hours building the 'Sling-a-tron 5000'. It hurled an oil-filled balloon with incredible force...right into Starfire's unsuspecting face.

Other times, Beast Boy found things that was just downright dangerous to mix with him: Things like fireworks and Vaseline and even peroxide. The Titans' universal bathroom _still_ had blackened scorch marks (it had taken Starfire weeks before she would willingly enter it again and even longer for her to flush the toilet without fear) and for half a month you couldn't touch any of the control pads in Titans Tower without coming away with greasy Vaseline on your hands. On another occasion, he had bought an identical remote to their TV with his hard earned 'Titan' money just so he could obliquely change the channel when someone was watching something and to watch their befuddlement. Cyborg hadn't enjoyed that one very much, though he restrained his sonic cannon impulses...mostly because Beast Boy had lost the device less than a week after he purchased it.

The coupe de grace, however, was when Beast Boy put peroxide in Robin's shampoo. One day Robin's spiky hair had been ebony black, and the next it was white as snow.

Robin had almost ended Beast Boy's short career that day...and probably would have had the other Titans not restrained him.

The examples went on and on. But after numerous death threats, mostly issued by Raven and Robin, Beast Boy had finally managed to rein in his mischievous side. But when long, silent, boring stretches started to fill the changeling's life, that mischievous side would start to reemerge.

To his credit, Beast Boy was fighting it. But whenever his mind wandered, which was quite frequently, it was filled with the wonderful thoughts of whoopee cushions, silly spray, sling shots and all manner of explosive and/or sticky, smelly things dancing in his head like sugar plums on crack.

Finally, lying listlessly on the couch in the main room, the changeling decided to eloquently share his feelings.

"Ughhhhh..." He groaned wittily.

Raven, Cyborg and Superboy ignored him.

"Dudes!" He tried again, his voice whiney. "I'm so _borrrrrrrrrrrrrrrred!_"

His reply was a three-pronged:

"..."

"_Helllllllllllllooooo!_"

Irritably, Raven looked up from her book.

"I've got something you can do, Beast Boy."

"Oooooh!" The changeling leapt up excitedly. "What?"

"...The dishes."

Beast Boy let out a sigh of disappointment and collapsed back on the couch.

"Ya know, BB does have a point." Cyborg said, ignoring Raven's disdainful sniff of disagreement. "I'm starting to get a little bit of cabin fever myself." He looked over at Superboy. "What about you?"

"I haven't bashed any heads or talked to any ladies for days now. I'm up for just about anything."

"How 'bout pizza?"

Beast Boy made a face.

"But we _always_ do pizza!" He complained.

Cyborg shrugged his titanium shoulders.

"It's better than doing dishes..." He suggested.

"All right, all right," Beast Boy gave in. He turned towards Raven. "You wanna-"

"No,"

"But wh-"

"I lack the sufficient genitalia to keep up my part of the conversation with the three of you. I'm staying here."

Beast Boy blushed.

"R-right..."

When he, Cyborg and Superboy were descending in the elevator a few moments later, the changeling finally let out his girlish laugh.

"Tee hee! Raven said 'genitalia'..."

For their part, Cyborg shook his head and Superboy rolled his eyes.

"Why do I get the feeling that Raven hates me?" Beast Boy asked them then.

"Probably 'cause she does." Superboy shrugged.

Beast Boy pouted, but then his eyes brightened.

"Dude, you know what? I bet Raven secretly has a crush on me!" He slicked back his hair. "Of course...who could blame her...?"

"If she does, she's really good at hiding it." Cyborg told him.

"But that's it! She has to!" Beast Boy defended himself. "If her overpowering love and _lust_ that she feels for me gets out, it'll make her powers go all coo-coo."

He had already lost his two friends, though: They had started laughing as soon as the changeling had said the word 'lust'.

Six hearts.

Three faces.

Two slacked (and one drooling) jaws.

Superboy, Cyborg and Beast Boy sat at the pizza table, watching with heart-eyes as their waitress sashayed up to them, her hips swaying seductively.

"Hi, boys." She greeted them with a smile. "The name's Kaili. What can I get you?"

The boys stared at her. She was beautiful, there was no doubt about that. She had dark, tanned skinned, long black hair and delicate, exotically shaped almond eyes. She looked to be of Hawaiian descent.

Superboy recovered first.

"Your email address," he answered promptly.

Kaili smirked at him.

"I meant what can I get you to eat?"

Superboy opened his mouth-

"Uhhhh..." Cyborg cut in quickly...just as a precaution. "We'll have a meat lover's, a veggie lover's and a pepperoni."

Kaili wrote all this down.

"All right," she smiled again. "I'll be back with that in a few minutes."

Cyborg and Superboy watched her walk away.

"...hey..." Beast Boy said dreamily.

"She's gone, BB."

"...What? Oh!" The changeling straightened in his seat. "Um...I knew that!"

"Sure. What gives, anyway?" Cyborg elbowed him playfully. "I thought you only liked blonde girls!"

Beast Boy folded his arms across his narrow chest.

"If a girl looks like that, she can have pink hair for all I care!"

Cyborg snorted.

"Save yourself the trouble and give up on her now." Superboy told Beast Boy, leaning back and putting his feet on the table and his hands behind his head. "By the time you're finished eating, she'll be all mine."

Cyborg leaned forward.

"That sounds like a challenge, little man."

Superboy lowered his red mirrored glasses to look at the half-robot.

"What did you have in mind?"

"Winner is whoever gets her email address." Cyborg laid out the challenge. "Losers pay for the pizza. You in?"

Superboy smirked.

"You might as well take out your titanium wallet now!"

"What about you, BB?"

"Dudes, of course I'm in!" He paused. "What happens if nobody wins?"

Cyborg and Superboy stared at him.

"You're right!" Beast Boy conceded. "I mean, _look_ at us! She has to pick _somebody_...unless she's g-gay, of course..."

Cyborg blinked his human eye. He looked at Superboy.

"...What if she _is_ gay?"

The three boys stared blankly at each other.

"Here you go..." Kaili was back at their table again, holding a tray with three pizzas.

"Are you gay?" Beast Boy burst out with the question before he could stop himself.

Superboy and Cyborg suddenly found the tabletop very interesting until the waitress laughed.

"Not since my spring break trip to Cancun last year." She answered wickedly.

**WHUMP!**

Beast Boy fell out of his chair.

"Here," Cyborg said. "Let me help you." He took the tray from her and began putting the pizzas on the table.

"Last time I check, _I_ was supposed to be the one serving you..."

Cyborg shrugged.

"Next time you're attacked by a robber, I'll let you beat him up while I watch. Then we'll be even."

Kaili giggled.

Superboy decided to step in at that point.

"Yo, Cy." He said it innocently enough, but there was a vicious undertone to his voice. "Did you ever get your shoulder fixed up from where you got beat up at that bank robbery the other day?"

Cyborg's nostrils flared.

"I did _not_ get beat up."

"You did get hit with a RPG..."

"I'm fine!" Cyborg spat out. "And-"

"Oh my goodness," Kaili brought her hands to her mouth. "You were hit with a rocket?"

Cyborg nodded.

"But, like I said, I'm perfectly fin-" He stopped when he noticed she was draped over him, gingerly rubbing his shoulder.

"Does it still hurt?" She asked him.

"Well..." Cyborg looked down sheepishly. "Yeah, it does...a little..."

"Aw..." Kaili hugged him tighter as steam billowed out in sheets from Superboy's ears.

"But Cy!" Beast Boy protested from where he'd regained his seat. "You told me you can't feel any pain in your metal parts!"

Cyborg glared at him.

"Ahem," Kaili femininely cleared her throat and stood up straight. "Let me go get you some soda. I'll be right back."

Superboy grinned at Beast Boy.

"Nice job, B."

Cyborg fumed for a moment, but then he smirked at his friends.

"Ya'll might have busted up my flow, but you have to admit I'm ahead on points!"

"The points don't matter." Superboy shrugged.

"Yeah, they're useless." Beast Boy seconded him. "Just like condoms to Control Freak!"

Cyborg burst out laughing. Finally, when he got control of himself he said:

"You watch too much TV, man."

Kaili came back not long later and set down the sodas on the table.

"If you need anything else, let me know." She started to walk away, but Superboy caught her arm.

"Hey babe, you wouldn't be offended if I said you had pretty eyes, would you?"

"Not at all,"

"You have a nice ass, too." He added.

Kaili looked surprised, but then she winked at him.

"So do you." She pulled her arm from his grasp and walked over to another table. Superboy, for his part, leaned back again and grinned conceitedly.

"It's in the bag." He announced.

Beast Boy stared at the Boy of Steel.

"How do you get away with a line like that?"

"'Cause I'm Superboy."

"Hey, it's not over yet!" Cyborg protested,_ really_ not wanting to lose to Superboy. "BB still hasn't talked to her yet."

Superboy put his glasses back on.

"That makes me _real_ scared..."

"He's right, dude." Beast Boy said, downcast. "I'll just goof it up and say something stupid!"

Cyborg's face grew sly.

"Not if you can't talk..." He suggested. Then he leaned over and whispered a plan into his ear. Superboy, for his part, was completely nonplused.

A few moments later, as Kaili was taking a tip and a few empty plates off another table, she felt something soft, warm and furry rubbing against her ankle. She looked down and saw the cutest, (though admittedly green), kitten she'd ever seen in her life. It had huge, wet eyes that wavered when they looked up at her.

"Aw..." Kaili set down the plates and picked it up, cuddling it to her chest.

The kitten purred contentedly.

"Hey!" Superboy protested shrilly from the table he and Cyborg were sitting at. "That's cheating!"

Cyborg snickered.

"I don't recall making any rules..."

The strategy ended, however, when Kaili suddenly found herself cradling a green elf in her hands.

"EEP!" She immediately dropped him.

"Um..." Beast Boy scratched at his dark green hair. "...H-hi there..." He was just about to apologize when-

**HUG!**

Kaili snatched him up to her chest, snuggling him like a plushie.

"You're so _cute!_"

Superboy fell out of his chair.

"Whoa..." Cyborg rubbed the smooth, meal part of his head. "Starfire moment..." Then he smirked at Superboy. "Looks like you lost, Superkid."

Superboy fought to keep his composure.

"I haven't lost yet-"

Kaili wrote something down on her pad, ripped it out and handed it to Beast Boy.

"Here's my email address, cutie." Smiling, she turned and walked away.

Superboy pratfalled. Cyborg watched Beast Boy sit on the floor in a daze for a moment, and then he turned to Superboy.

"Don't worry, dawg. Humility's good for ya!"

Superboy crossed his arms across his chest, muttering to himself.

"So you're buying, right?" Cyborg went on. "I think I'll order another pizza to go!"

"You have to pay, too!" Superboy shot back sourly.

"A small price to pay, my man. A small price to pay."

Superboy muttered even louder.

Superboy and Cyborg sat in the front of the T-Car with Beast Boy in the back hopping up and down like a ten year old.

"I still can't believe she gave me her email address!"

Superboy grumbled.

"A hot chick gave _me_ her email address, dudes." The changeling was grinning foolishly. "Think about it! That's almost as good as phone number!" He slicked his hair back. "I am _soooo_ good!"

"All right, we get it!" Superboy snapped. "Jeez...!"

"Cancungrl33..." Beast Boy read the email address. "I wonder if she was kidding about that...?"

"Arguh..." Superboy buried his face in his hands. After a moment, he looked back up. "Let me out, Cy."

The half-robot looked at him via the rearview mirror.

"Say what, dawg?"

"Let me out." The Boy of Steel repeated. "I want to take a walk."

"All right," Cyborg conceded, pulling over to the curb. "If ya need us, me and BB will be down at the mall."

"But dude! I don't wanna go to the mall! I wanna got back home to the computer and-"

Superboy quickly got out of the car and slammed the door closed to keep from hearing anymore. He watched the T-Car drive away and, as the a cold wind started to blow, he thrust his hands into his jacket pockets and started to walk down the sidewalk. Citizens noticed him, of course, some pointing and some whispering to friends, but none came up to him. The majority of the Titans fan base, teenagers, were still in school at this hour, so the Boy of Steel was unmolested during walk.

Until...

**WHA-AAAAAAM!**

Superboy suddenly found himself buried beneath a pile of dusty red bricks from where someone had knocked into a building. He slowly sat up, shoving off the building material.

"Hi there, handsome."

Superboy blinked...several times.

The person before him...was absolutely gorgeous. She had incredibly long and full red hair and blood red, pouty lips. The leotard the woman wore was a lot like Raven's, except it was green and it was a lot more...full.

_Heh...boobies..._

Superboy shook his head clear and his male/pig side emerged immediately.

"...How you doin'?"

The Boy of Steel shook his head again.

"Who are you?" He demanded.

The woman tossed her head to the side.

"I'm Knockout." She winked at him. She pursed her full lips thoughtfully. "I think what I did in Metropolis was a mistake. I bet the real deal will be a _lot_ more fun..."

Superboy's eyes widened.

"You were behind my clone?"

"I didn't know he was a clone at first." Knockout shrugged. "But it doesn't really matter now." She gave him a direct look. "Are you just going to sit there all day?"

**SWOOSH!**

Superboy was at her side in less than a heartbeat. He threw a self-satisfied smirk up at her...

**WHAM!**

Knockout answered that with a right hook that sent him careening across the street and through the back window of a parked car. Superboy, disoriented, saw flying boobies circle his head. When he finally collected himself, he suddenly realized the car he'd been thrown into was gone. He turned around and saw that Knockout, incredibly, was holding it up over her head by the front bumper.

Superboy's eyes became two pinpoints as the shadow of the vehicle fell over him.

"Uh-oh..."

**SMASH!**

Knockout looked at the mangled car, waiting. She tapped her foot. She blew a lock of red hair out of her face. She-

"Raaaaaugh!"

**WHACK!**

Superboy erupted out of the debris of the car like a half-human/half-Kryptonian missile and smacked Knockout with a right uppercut. The sexy villain was sent spiraling into the wall beside the hole Superboy had made with his own body earlier. After a moment, however, she walked back on the street dusting herself off, looking no worse for the wear.

"Handsome, young, strong and quick to recover." Knockout smirked. "I appreciate all those traits in a young man."

Superboy shrugged cooly.

"Sexy, scantily clad, assertive and big-breasted-" He stopped and blinked.

She was gone.

"What the..?" Superboy looked left and right down the street, but he didn't see her. He took to the air and turned a corner, but he still couldn't find her.

"Hey!" A citizen called up to the Boy of Steel. "Are you looking for a long-legged red head in a green leotard?"

Superboy grinned goofily.

"All my life, my man, all my life."

The man blinked.

"Ahem," Superboy cleared his throat. "I mean...um... Yes, citizen! Please direct me in the direction that nefarious villain went so I might administer proper justice!"

"Uh...that way..." The man pointed-

**SWOOSH!**

Inside the Jump City Mall in a Kinko's, Beast Boy sat in front of a computer. An email writing program was up and in the 'send to' colum was the name Cancungrl33. The little green changeling cracked his knuckles, leaned forward and typed:

_Hey Kaili. Were you kidding when you said-_

Beast Boy stopped. He mashed the backspace key. He tried again:

_When you were talking about Cancun earlier today-_

The changeling sweat dropped and hit the backspace key again. He leaned back.

And thought.

And thought.

And thought.

Felt the first tinges of a headache.

Thought some more.

Took a deep breath and-

_What's up, Kaili? Why did you decide on the name 'Cancungrl33'?_

Then he quickly hit the 'send' button before he could change his mind.

Beast Boy smiled.

Cyborg was suddenly behind him, clapping his shoulder hard enough to leave a bruise.

"So, BB, you email her?"

"Yup!"

"...You ask her about the Cancun thing?"

Beast Boy simpered.

"O-of course not..."

Cyborg looked disappointed.

"Did you at least give her _your_ email address?"

Beast Boy blinked slowly.

"...I don't even have one."

Cyborg covered his good eye with a titanium hand.

Beast Boy shrugged and stood up.

"Ya know, dude, I hate to say it but...I kinda feel bad for Superboy." He gestured. "Ya know, with Kaili and all..."

"I wouldn't worry about Superboy. I betcha he's got a woman all over him right now."

"Yaugh!" Knockout leapt from the shadows of an alleyway and tackled Superboy to the ground. She sat on his chest and wrapped her hands around his throat. As he struggled futilely against her, the sexy woman smirked.

"I always prefer being on top."

But Superboy couldn't answer for lack of air. He tried to pry Knockout's hands on his throat, but she was too strong.

_She's...stronger than me?_

That was Superboy's last thought before he blacked out.


	74. Yellow and Red

_"The only problem will be finding a stripper who will dress up like Supergirl." - Superboy_

_**CHAPTER SEVENTY FOUR**_

_**YELLOW AND RED**_

Back on the highway in the bright yellow SUV were Nicole, Tim, Amber, Bard, Starfire and Robin. Tim and Nicole were seated up front, Robin and Starfire were in the middle row and Bard and Amber were nestled in the very back.

"Like I was saying:" It was Nicole, speaking from the driver's seat. "Yellow is a cool color!'

Tim grunted.

"Maybe for women," he conceded. "But men the world over hate the color! Every single one of them!" He paused. "All straight men, anyway." He corrected himself with a shrug.

Just then, Bard found himself looking at Robin and noticed something. He quickly leaned forward.

"Um-"

"I mean, there's no way any self-respecting straight man would have their truck be yellow!" Tim went on obliviously. "And they sure as hell wouldn't _wear_ it!"

"Hey!" Amber piped up. "I bought Jonny a yellow coat once!"

Tim chuckled to himself before he looked over his shoulder at her.

"Did he ever wear it?"

Amber opened her mouth, but then she shut again as her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Then she turned to glare at her boyfriend. Bard, for his part, slumped and simpered.

"My point is proven!" Tim announced magnanimously. He crossed his big arms and smirked at Nicole in triumph. "So in conclusion: The color yellow sucks and is only appealing to women and gay guys."

Then, out of nowhere:

"I like yellow."

Tim turned in his seat to stare incredulously at Robin.

"I like yellow." The Boy Wonder repeated. "It's a bold, fierce color that demands attention. And in case you haven't noticed:" He opened up his cape and, just as Bard had just noticed, the inside lining of it was no other color but yellow.

Tim cringed.

"And you're straight?" He said it in a surprisingly meek tone.

"Yes," Robin's eye slits narrowed threateningly when he said it.

"See!" Nicole asked Tim, jumping all over the opportunity. "You're wrong!"

Tim looked flabbergasted.

"Be careful, Tim." Bard grinned up at him. "You only have one of two choices here: Either admit you're wrong or accuse Robin of being homosexual. I reckon I'd go with the first one if I was you, but it's your skin." He shrugged indifferently.

Tim opened his mouth-

"Trained by Batman," Bard reminded him.

Tim opened his mouth-

"Knows like ten different kinds of martial arts."

Tim opened his mouth-

"Could shove an exploding disc with a 'T' engraved on it straight up your-"

"_ALL RIGHT!"_ Tim huffed, irritated. His mouth twisted right, then to the left. He cleared his throat. He squared his shoulders...

"Today!" Nicole demanded. She took one hand off the steering wheel to punch her boyfriend in the shoulder.

Tim muttered something.

"What was that?"

"I was wrong! All right? Happy now? Shit!" He settled down further in his seat, crossing his arms sullenly.

Everyone snickered.

After a moment, Starfire giggled.

"I like your friend, Bard." She confided in him. "He is much akin to a big, foul-mouthed plushie bear!"

Amber and Bard laughed.

Meanwhile, Robin was staring pensively out the window. And Starfire noticed.

"Is there something wrong, Robin?"

"I'm fine." It came out automatically. But then the Boy Wonder sighed. "I'm just worried about the rest of the team. I left them undermanned to take care of the city."

"I am sure they are well, Robin." Starfire said it with her characteristic optimistically. "I am sure that Beast Boy and Cyborg are playing the cassette games, Superboy is, um, cleansing his eye wear and that Raven is being annoyed by it all!"

Robin crossed his arms.

"I hope you're right, Star..."

Raven and Cyborg watched as Beast Boy, in Sherlock Holmes mode, scanned the ruined street scene with a huge magnifying glass. Raven crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently. Cyborg whistled and leaned idly against the T-Car. Beast Boy looked at the totaled car. He meticulously examined the two gaping holes in the side of the brick building. After about fifteen minutes...

"There was a fight here!"

Cyborg sighed.

"No sh-"

"Yes, a fight!" Beast Boy continued to voice his findings as he puffed on his bubble pipe. "Most probably involving two people, but possibly less."

Raven and Cyborg looked at each other for a moment, but then the dark sorceress negligently lifted and flicked her hand.

**ZAP!**

The little green changeling was flung across the street by black telekinesis.

All business, Raven asked:

"Can you pick up anything with your sensors?"

Cyborg brought two finger up to his metal temple, looking around.

"Thermal vision is picking up some kind of dust. Hold on." He bent down on one knee and raked his titanium finger across the ground. He held it up to his forearm and looked at the readouts.

"What is it?"

"Dunno," he shrugged. "But I can tell you one thing:"

Raven raised an eyebrow.

"What? I don't appreciate your attempt at melodramatic suspense."

"You know you love it." The half-robot grew serious again. "Whatever this dust is...it isn't from Earth."

"...Then whoever attacked Superboy wasn't from Earth?"

"It's possible, yeah."

"Great...more aliens."

"Looks that way." Cyborg nodded. "Whoever he was though, he was strong enough to take out Superboy so-"

"Why do you automatically assume that the alien is male?"

"Do you know any girls that could take on Superboy?"

"...Supergirl."

Cyborg blinked.

"Why would his sister want to attack him?"

Raven opened her mouth and raised a finger, but then she decided against it.

"...Go pry Beast Boy off the asphalt while I...stand here. Go."

"Ya know, I thought I was supposed to be the leader when Robin wasn't here."

Raven glared.

"...Well, all right, then!"

When Cyborg was gone, Raven sighed and looked up at the sky.

"Now what do I do?" She demanded of it.

The sky ignored her.

Superboy, clad in a pair of red swim trunks and a black tank-top, was lounging indolently in a hammock on a sandy beach. Black shades protected his eyes from the bright yellow sun and the sea whispered incessantly in his ears. A cool breeze sent the hammock rocking back and forth. After a moment, the Boy of Steel lifted up his arm and snapped his fingers.

"Yes, Master?" Supergirl stood beside the hammock wearing nothing but a contrite smile and a _very_ thin string bikini.

"I'm thirsty." Superboy told her.

Suddenly, a tall glass of lemonade with a long, Caribbean straw appeared in Supergirl's hand. (It entirely possible that it had been there all along. But if it had, Superboy didn't notice. He had been more interested in observing some of the Girl of Steel's more salient body parts as opposed to whatever she was or was not holding in her hands.) She leaned forward and, still holding the glass, gently put the straw between Superboy's lips.

When Superboy had drank his fill, he looked up at the bikini-clad blonde and asked:

"Wanna play strip poker?"

Supergirl smirked.

"If you wanted to see me strip, all you had to was ask!"

She shrugged her hair out of the way and began untying her top tied at the nape of her neck. Seeing Superboy licking his lips in anticipation, she began lowering the bikini top teasingly slow. The garment slipped lower and lower and showed more and more of the Girl of Steel's ample cleavage until, finally...

Superboy woke up. With a disatisfied groan, he opened his eyes.

_Why couldn't I have slept for five more seconds...?_

But then his vision suddenly cleared, and he was rewarded with the sight of the shapely, red-headed villain called Knockout.

_Then again..._

Superboy tried to sit up, but found that flickering yellow energy beams were wrapped around his limbs and torso, restraining him.

"I don't know what you've heard, babe." He said to Knockout. "But Superboy is _not_ into bondage!"

Knockout's full lips smirked underneath her green eye mask.

"Since when did you talk about yourself in the third person?"

"Since when did _you_ decide to steal Poison Ivy's fashion statement?" Superboy shot right back.

The sexy villain ignored that. Instead:

"I brought you here, Superboy, in case you're wondering, because I want you."

The Boy of Steel's brow furrowed.

"Want me to do what?"

"I just want you." Knockout's gaze, even hidden behind the green eye mask, was smoldering.

Superboy grinned.

"I hate to tell ya this, sweet cheeks, but you didn't have to beat me up for that."

"Oh, you misunderstand." With swaying hips, Knockout strutted up to him. "I don't just want you to share my bed, I want you to be my partner. Simply, I just want _you_. Completely."

The newest Teen Titan eyed her warily, but then he shrugged.

"You'll have to talk to my agent about tha-mmmpphf!"

Knockout smothered his words with a kiss. When she pulled away, Superboy was gasping.

"Tell me," she asked him, running her forefinger around the edges of the Superman emblem on his chest. "Have you ever heard of red kryptonite?"

When Cyborg came to a red light, he stopped the T-Car and brought his forearm up to his face.

"Any luck?" He asked his teammates through the built-in receiver.

"Nothing," Raven reported.

"Yeah," Beast Boy seconded that. "What she said."

"Well, keep looking. Superboy has to be somewhere in the-"

**BEEP!**

Cyborg looked at the readout flashing across the small screen on his forearm before he announced:

"Looks like we've got trouble at the First National Bank."

"Dude, again? Must suck to work there."

"Do we split up?" Raven asked.

"We won't need to," Cyborg replied. "I finally got a signal from Superboy's communicator. He's at the bank."

"I betcha he'll already have taken care of all the baddies by the time we get there!"

"...I have a bad feeling about this." Raven muttered.

"You have a bad feeling about everything, Raven."

"I have no bad feelings whatsoever toward the notion of carving your heart out...with a spoon."

Beast Boy winced and chuckled nervously.

"Hold off on that, Raven." Cyborg suggested. "Right now, we need to get to the bank ASAP. Titans, go!"

"Hehehehe. Cy's a Robin wannabe."

"Oh...go eat some fertilizer, ya grass stain!"

T-T-T-T-T-T-T

Superboy had propped his head up on his elbow and was laying on his side across the front service counter at the First National Bank. He looked down nonchalantly at the female bank employee that was crouched and cowering beside the counter.

"What's your name, babe?" He asked her.

"R-Rachel..."

"Nice to meet ya, Rachel. I'm Superboy.

Rachel said nothing.

"So," Superboy asked her after a moment. "Ever had an orgasm?"

"Superboy!" Knockout called to him from the vault. "Come help me!"

Superboy sighed boredly, rolled to his back and put his hands behind his head.

"I still don't understand what we need with money." He called back to her. "Between the two of us, we can take whatever we want."

"Just consider this a test run of our partnership."

"Whatever," Superboy sniffed and reluctantly rose to his feet. "Just remember that, after this, we're gonna do somethin' that _I_ want to do!"

Knockout arced an eyebrow at him from underneath her eye mask.

"What did you have in mind?"

Superboy grinned lecherously at her.

"Oh, don't worry, babe. I'll think of something."

Knockout actually blushed.

"The only problem will be finding a stripper who will dress up like Supergirl."

Knockout blinked.

"You're right," Superboy conceded. "We'll just go to Kansas and snag the real thing!"

Knockout pratfalled.

At that moment, Cyborg and Beast Boy slid in th4rough the double front doors of the bank. A split second later, Raven rose up out of a liquidy obsidian portal beside them.

Beast Boy looked at the masked Knockout, who held two bags that held what suspiciously looked to be money. Then the changeling looked at Superboy, empty-handed and standing beside her.

"Dude!" He yelled at the Boy of Steel. "Grab her!"

Superboy shrugged, turned and grabbed Knockout...two of her body parts, anyway.

Everyone minus Superboy sweat dropped.

After a second that felt like an hour, Knockout slapped his hands away.

"I think that stuff I gave you is working too well..." She mused.

Cyborg's good eye narrowed.

"You drugged him?"

"Dude!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "She probably gave him ap-, apri-, um..."

"Aphrodisiac," Raven said the word for him.

"Hehehehe." He giggled. "Raven said 'aphrodisiac'."

Raven glared at the changeling, but Cyborg was already issuing orders.

"All right, ya'll. Get the girl, but don't hurt Superboy. Titans, go!"

"Girl?" Knockout repeated, indignantly tossing her head along with her coppery red hair. "Do I _look_ like a _girl_ to you? I"m more woman than you'd ever know what to-ack!"

Knockout leapt back just before the large, slavering teeth of the green crocodile could chomp down on her. She flipped sideways to avoid the blue energy beam shot from Cyborg's sonic cannon. Finally, she rolled under a computer monitor flung at via black telekinesis before escaping outside.

"Get her!"

Raven and Beast Boy quickly followed Cyborg outside after her, leaving Superboy inside alone. He looked after them for a moment, but then he turned and adjusted his black leather jacket. He leaned on the counter towards the cowering girl behind it.

"So, Michelle-"

"I-It's Rachel."

"Right, right, Rachel. Don't get testy." He gave her a direct gaze. "So, you never did answer my question..."

Rachel blinked.

"SUPERBOY!" Knockout called to him in distress.

The Boy of Steel sighed, cooly put on his red tinted shades and headed towards the door.

"Another time, babe." He threw over his shoulder as he walked out. Once outside, he took a good look around.

Knockout was back stepping down the street, barely deflecting Cyborg's heavy blows. Beast Boy was advancing in the form of a shaggy green wolf and Raven was uprooting a parking meter with her dark telekinesis.

Superboy sighed again, flexed and-

**SWOOSH! SMASH!**

rammed shoulder first into Cyborg. The robot hybrid was flung across the street and hit the side of a car with such force that the metal structure of it wrapped around him...even as he crashed through a storefront.

Beast Boy and Raven stared, dumbfounded.

"Beast Boy!" Raven said it with deadly seriousness. "Forget what Cyborg said. We have to take out Superboy now! Before he kills us!"

Beast Boy hesitated, but then his will locked at his eyes once again fell on the utter destruction Cyborg had collapsed in. With a roar, he transformed into a stegosaurus. He turned his gargantuan body and whipped his tail at Superboy.

**GRIP!**

Superboy caught it and, with a strained grunt, began to spin the huge creatures around and around and around...

Raven gasped. She knew Superboy was strong, but... She suddenly noticed something. But before she could look closer-

"Ahhhhh!" Beast Boy screamed, back in elf form as he flew through the air after Superboy's release.

A huge black palm caught Beast Boy before he could splatter into the pavement.

"We have to retreat." Raven decided.

"But Cy-"

"We can't help him now."

Beast Boy tried to protest again, but the two of them had already sunk into a black teleporting hole.

Knockout took a moment to catch her breath before:

"Good job." She congratulated Superboy. "Looks like you're useful after-"

"You're starting to bore me." Superboy stated suddenly.

Knockout blinked.

"Wha-?"

**SWOOSH! WHACK!**

Knockout smashed into a vending machine, getting covered with spewing soda and assorted salty snacks.

"You ungrateful whelp!" Knockout raged, getting up. "Haven't we already established that I'm stronger than y-"

**SWOOSH! WHACK!**

With superhuman speed, Superboy followed her limp, ragdolling body. He stood on the spot where she would land and reared back his fist.

**WHACK!**

He repeated the action over and over again, pinballing Knockout's body back and forth across and down the street.

**SWOOSH! **

**WHACK! **

**SWOOSH! **

**WHACK!**

When he finally let Knockout hit the ground, she groaned, quivered and feel back unconscious. Superboy looked at her without remorse. Than he glanced over at where Cyborg was buried in debris, looking only slightly regretful. But then he smirked and grinned his boyish grin.

"Now it's time to have some _real_ fun!"

**SWOOSH!**

And he blurred off into the heart of the city.

A moment or so later, Raven and Beast Boy teleported back onto the street. Without missing a beat, they ran over to where Cyborg was buried in brick, glass and twisted metal. Raven began clearing the debris with her telekinesis, and Beast Boy transformed into a gorilla to help, tossing away huge slabs of concrete like bales of hay.

"Ugh...hhhh..." Cyborg managed to say before his human eye closes and his electronic optic flickered off. His chest was gashed open and sparking and his left arm barely hung on to his body by spiderweb-like wires.

"Beast Boy," Raven ordered his sharply. "Take him back to the tower."

"What are you gonna do?" He blinked. "And shouldn't we take Cy to Star Labs, or somethin'?"

Raven shook her head.

"I don't want to put Cyborg's life in someone else's hands unless we have no other choice." She paused and looked at Knockout, lying unconscious in the street. "And as for me, I have a load of my own to carry."

"What do we need her for?"

"I think she's influencing Superboy."

"OOohh, ooh! She's got him under mind control, doesn't she?"

"...I don't think it's as 'simple' as that. But Superboy is thinking differently. Something in his mind is missing...that wasn't missing before, that is." She seemed to be talking to herself more than Beast Boy, but then she suddenly glared at him. "Are you still here?"

"Leaving now." The changeling uttered out in a squeak. He transformed into a pterodactyl and, as gingerly as possible, grasped Cyborg's inert body with his talons. Then he took to the air towards Titans Tower.

When he was gone, Raven looked back over at Knockout. The dark sorceress knew that she had the answers they needed to bring back Superboy to his regular state.

And she would get them.

She wrapped the villain up in a cocoon of black telekinesis, lifted her up and followed Beast Boy back to Titans Tower.


	75. Lipstick and Mouthwash

_Man Rule Number One: Never, __**ever**__ let two women who know you well talk to each other." - Bard_

_**CHAPTER SEVENTY FIVE**_

_**LIPSTICK AND MOUTHWASH**_

Robin was the leader of the Teen Titans. Right behind him, at number two, was Cyborg. If Robin was absent or injured or otherwise incapable of crime fighting, Cyborg would step up as the unofficial leader of the Teen Titans. And Raven was number three in the teenage super hero line of succession.

Robin was gone and Cyborg was indisposed, so the burden of leadership fell squarely on Raven's slender shoulders. Raven was highly intelligent and capable of making quick decisions. She was always mature and could look at any problem with cold, calculating detachment. But, despite all that, she was terribly unsuited for leadership. Frankly, she didn't _want_ the responsibility. Keeping her emotions in check and keeping a demon from entering this world was responsibility enough, in her own eyes.

But she didn't have any choice. Half of the team was gone, one had turned renegade, one was out of commission and the lone Titan to stand by her side was...Beast Boy. Raven could think of better scenarios...some that even involved the color pink, Starfire and a nuclear explosion.

"Where is Cyborg?" Raven asked when she ran across the changeling in the main room.

"I hooked him up to his charger-up thingymajig in the lab." Beast Boy answered. "I thought that if, ya know, Cy can get some more power and wake up, he'll be able to fix himself. Or at least tell us how to help"

One of Raven's delicate eyebrows raised.

"Logic..." She murmured. "I'm impressed."

Beast Boy's green face blushed red.

"I'm not coming on to you, Beast Boy." Raven told him when she saw it. "It was merely a compliment. Control your hormones."

The little green man blushed even deeper. To hide it, he started to spin the laser pistol her was holding around his finger.

"Where did you get that?"

Beast Boy shrugged.

"I found it in the lab. I guess Bard forgot it." He began to spin it faster

"...Be careful with it."

"I will! Jeez! Why does everyone think I always-"

**ZAP!**

Beast Boy simpered and Raven looked at the new, smoking hole in the wall dispassionately before she announced:

"I'm going to interrogate-"

"Ooooh! Ooooh! Can I come?"

Raven blinked.

"Why?"

"N-no reason..." Beast Boy simpered.

"Fine, come if you wish." As she walked down the hallway with Beast Boy trailing along behind, she muttered: "I wish Bard was here."

"You mean...you're actually admitting you miss him?"

"...He's much better at getting information out of criminals then I am. He's much more...social."

"Who isn't?"

Raven ignored that.

"Ya know..." Beast Boy said. "I've noticed something ever since Bard got here."

Raven didn't ask him to continue, but the changeling did anyway.

"The two of you are _really_ similar."

"We're total opposites." Raven droned her disagreement.

Beast Boy grinned.

"You're that, too."

Raven sighed.

"Do you want to see the scantily clad woman with the big breasts or not?"

"..."

"..."

"...Shutting up now."

After a few more steps...

"Hehehehe," Beast Boy couldn't contain it anymore. "You said 'breasts'. I have _so_ got to tell Kaili about this."

"...Who is Kaili?"

"Oh," Beast Boy said modestly, buffing his fingernails against his chest. "Just a lady friend of mine who absolutely _adores_ me!"

Raven said nothing.

"What's the matter, jealous?"

"You...wish."

"Aw, c'mon! Not even a _lit-tle_ bit jealous?"

"...I'll dye the villain's hair blonde if you just shut up."

"Oooh! Really?"

"..."

"..."

"...No, not really."

"Ugh..." Tim leaned restlessly back into the passenger seat. "How much longer 'til we get there, man?"

Bard, who had taken over the driving duties from Nicole, looked over at him.

"Still a couple of hours." The cowboy answered. For the fifth millionth time, he glanced nervously at the rearview mirror. He didn't look back because he was worried about being pursued. No, what he saw in the mirror was much worse than gun-toting gang members: Amber, Nicole and Starfire were all huddled in the back seat, their faces close together in conspiratal whispers and giggles. Every so often, one of them would glance up at Bard, Tim or Robin and snicker. Amber and Starfire blushed often.

"I wish I knew what they were talking about." Bard fretted.

"Relax," Tim said cooly. "They're probably just wondering which one of us has the biggest-"

"If you finish that sentence I'll have Robin strangle you with your own seatbelt."

"What's the matter?" Tim smirked. "Feeling insecure?" He paused. "Ya know...every time that vemon stuff pumps into me and I get bigger, so does my-"

"All right, Robin: Strangle him!"

The slits of Robin's eye mask narrowed throughtfully.

"Hmm..." He pondered. "I've never used a seatbelt as a garrotte before..."

"All right, all right!" Tim gave in. "Man, ya'll need to learn to loosen up!"

Bard ignored him and glanced back at the girls again.

"I just _know_ they're talking about us." He declared. "I'd bet my bottom dollar on it."

"You really think so?" Robin asked, leaning forward from the middle seat of the SUV.

"Of course! Whenever two or more women get together, they talk about men. It's a fact."

"Really?"

"Yes, sir."

Tim shrugged.

"Just ignore'em, man."

Bard's face went serious.

"I can't believe I never told you this but: Man Rule Number One: Never, _ever_ let two women who know you well talk to each other."

"Why not?"

"Because they're start pooling information, that's why!" Bard burst out. "Think about it: Both Nicole and Amber know you. If they start putting some things together..."

Tim blinked.

He scratched at his beard.

He thought.

_"HOLY SHIT! STOP THE CAR!"_

**SCRRRREEEETCCHCH!**

"What in the blue _hell_ do you think you're doing?" Bard raged. "Amber doesn't have _that_ much on you!"

"It's not that!" Tim shook his head. "Something just...blurred across the road!"

Bard blinked at him.

"What?"

Bruno was a huge, mountain of a man. He wore a permanant, comtemptous scowl on his scarred face. His bald head was huge and looked more like a battering ram than the body part containing the brain on a human being. His arms, folded over his chest, were aweseomly muscled and his biceps were the size of softballs. He wore an opened, black vest that revealed a chest and abdomen that seemed to be chiseled out of stone. He wore dark leather pants and black boots. Brass, spiked knuckles adorned each of his hands and the handle of a gun could be seen poking out of the waistband of his pants. All in all, Bruno looked like someone you didn't want to mess with if you valued your life.

Superboy didn't even see him.

"Hey, punk!" Bruno barked at him, his voice deep and harsh. "You can't go in!"

The Boy of Steel didn't even bother to look at him, much less take off his red-tinted sunglasses.

"You gonna stop me, chomedome?"

Bruno reared back a spike-studded knuckle...

**SMACK!**

Superboy bitch-smacked him away and the big man rolled across the parking lot to clang his head hard against the side door of a car. The Boy of Steel arrogantly flicked back a strand of his black hair before stepping into the now empty doorway.

Pulsating techno music immediately filled his ears. Writhing, dancing, sweating bodies were merged together and streaming, blinking, multicolored lights swept over the club. But Superboy was more interested in the ten feet tall, clear plastic tubes. Or more accurately, the scantily clad women gyrating within them. Barely taking his eyes off of them, he stepped over to the bar.

"Yo, pops!" He yelled over the music to the bartender. "Give me a...a...um," He scratched his head. "Give me something with alcohol in it."

The bartender squinted at him.

"Aren't you a little young for alcohol, sonny?"

"Aren't you a little old for Viagra, pops?"

Just outside of Superboy's line of sight, a trio of somber-clothed bouncers were whispering and pointing his way.

"How did you get in here, anyway?" The bartender demanded.

Superboy shrugged.

"I just smacked down the big ugly bald guy outside."

The bartender stared incredulously at him.

"Bruno? There's no way."

Superboy reached out, grabbed the front of the bartender's apron and jerked him forward.

"Wanna bet?"

By this time, the three bouncers had made their way over. One of them grabbed Superboy's shoulder from behind.

"I think it's time for you to leave, boy."

Superboy smirked.

"You first...boy."

**THWOOSH!**

The Boy of Steel flung the bouncer with a negligent flick of his arm though the air and smashing through one of the empty plastic tubes. Dancers shrieked and milled against each other in no real direction.

Another bouncer arced a bottle at his head, but Superboy block it with his forearm. With his free hand he shoved the man, sending him sliding down the bar through glasses and pitchers.

The third bar guard was more wiry and athletic than his co-workers. He hoped back and forth in a Kung-fu stance in front of Superboy before reaching into his pants and bringing out a pair of nunchaku.

Superboy blinked at him.

"Whoo, haugh, waugh, haugh, daugh, wat-taugggggggh!" With amazing dexterity, the bouncer whirled the nunchaku around his body in a blur.

**WHAP!**

Superboy knocked him out cold with a quick jab. He looked around at the deserted club.

"...This place sucks anyway."

**SWOOSH!**

"Ugghhhh," Knockout came to, seeing Raven and Beast Boy before her. "Haugh!" She tried to leap forward, but glowing blue energy restrained her.

"Nice to meet you, too." Raven droned.

The sexy villian squinted at them from behind her green eye mask.

"You're Superboy's friends." She deduced.

"I'm Beast Boy!" The changeling grinned goofily at her.

Knockout scanned him in a single look.

"...Can you turn into a horse?"

"Um...y-yeah..."

"That's something, anyway."

Beast Boy fainted.

"And I'm Raven." She ignored the twitching and nose bleeding form of Beast Boy on the floor. "Who are you?"

"Raven, huh?" Knockout mused. "I thought ravens were supposed to be black. You're as pale as a sheet."

The dark sorceress glared.

"All right...sheesh. It's Knockout."

"What did you do to Superboy?"

"You get right to the point, don'tcha girl?"

"Just answer the question."

Knockout sighed dramatically.

"Superboy's genes are not from this planet."

"We already know this."

"Jeez, let me finish!" Knockout huffed before she continued. "Superboy's genes are from Superman...a Kryptonian. Certain ores of the explosion that destroyed the planet Krypton have been recovered."

"Kryptonite," Raven nodded. "It weakens Superboy. What does this have to do-"

"That's _green_ kryptonite. There's more than one kind, ya know."

Raven stared.

"What I used on Superboy was _red_ kryptonite."

"What did it do to him?" Raven demanded.

"In a nutshell? It negates his conscience."

Raven stared even harder at her, her eyes filled with consternation.

"Are you insane?" She hissed. "You intentionally caused a person of Superboy's power to be governed over his actions by simple whim?"

"...I thought I was stronger than he was...that I could control him."

"You were able to defeat him before because, deep down, he valued your life. He held back."

Knockout said nothing.

"How do we reverse the effects?"

"I don't know."

"You don't _know?_"

"Give me a break!" Knockout said exasperatedly. "I didn't think that far ahead! I never thought I'd _have_ to reverse the effects on him!"

"How did you infect him?"

"I crushed the red kryptonite into a lipstick."

"Whoa!" Beast Boy was suddenly back up to his feet. "You kissed him?"

Raven shook her head.

"Ignore the hormonal green man."

**SWOOSH!**

"Superboy?" Raven gasped, even as she righted her cloak. "Where have you be-mmphf!"

Superboy grabbed the pretty sorceress, turned, tipped her and planted his lips onto hers. Raven opened her eyes in the midst of the kiss, and they were glowing gray.

**ZING!**

Superboy was thrown across the room via black telekinesis and smashed through a metal control panel. As the technology sparked, the blue beams restraining Knockout flickered and vanished. Immediately upon being freed, she high-tailed it out the door. Beast Boy moved to go after her, but Raven stopped him.

"She's expendable." She told him. "We have to bring Superboy to his senses!"

Beast Boy quickly nodded at her and aimed Bard's laser pistol in the Boy of Steel's direction, but then he looked back with a double take, blinked, and fell over, cackling with glee.

Raven glared at him.

"Now is not the time-"

Beast Boy interrupted her as his high-pitched laughter came out even more forcibly.

"What's so funny?" She frowned.

"Hahahahahah-You've got-HEHEHEHEHEHEH-lipstick on-HAHAHAHAH-your mouth! _HAHHAHAHAHAH!"_

Meanwhile, Superboy had made it back to his feet. He cracked his neck and-

"Are you guys all right?" His voice was uncharacteristically somber.

"Heheheheheh, I'm great!"

"...I'll live." Raven wiped her mouth with her cloak.

Superboy nodded once and, with dead eyes, shambled past them.

"Dude, where are you going?"

Superboy didn't answer.

At the last rest stop of their trip, Amber watched as Bard tried repeatedly to slip a dollar bill into a drink machine. Bard put the dollar in.

**ZHZHZHZH!**

The dollar came back out at him.

He slid it in again.

**ZHZHZHZH!**

The machine spat it back out at him again.

"Ya know," the cowboy mused as he tried again. "I'm always wondered whether or not a drink machine would fit into a woodshed..." He turned to Amber. "If I broke my hand punching this sucker, you'd fix it, right?"

"I don't think super heroes are allowed to commit vandalism." Amber told him.

"They're not allowed to ride motorcycles without helmets, either..." Bard muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"N-nothing..." He frowned as he tried again. "Amber, I think we need to talk." His tone was serious.

"What's on your mind?"

"Well," he contained his frustration as he put the dollar bill into the machine again. "We'll be back at the city soon and, well, things are different now then they used to be."

Amber tilted her head to the side.

"How so?"

"I live in a tower shaped like a giant 'T' for one. But that's not what I mean." He turned and looked at her, ignoring the dollar bill hanging out of the machine. "I fight insane super villains on a daily basis, and I don't really have what you'd call a secret identity."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"If some of the...black hats in Jump City make the connection between me and you...you could be in some very real danger." He sighed. "I've already lost you once. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you again."

Amber's light blue eyes wavered.

"Then you want me to go back-"

"No! Hell no!" Bard stopped himself when he realized he said that a little too loudly and emphatically. "S-sorry. I don't want you to go anywhere...but I want to know that I can protect you."

Amber thought about that for a moment.

"The only way you could do that all the time is if I lived in Titans Tower."

Bard rubbed his cheek.

"Yeah, and the only way Robin would let you live with us is if you were Teen Titan..." An idea suddenly flickered in his eyes, but Amber didn't see it because, just then, Tim had stepped up to them.

"Can't get the machine to work, Jon-Boy?" The big man asked.

Bard opened his mouth-

**WHAM!**

Tim punched the side of the drink machine hard.

"..."

"..."

"..."

**CL-CLUNK!**

A Pepsi came out and Bard shrugged.

_Hmmmm... Close enough._

Superboy sat on the edge of the roof atop Titans Tower. His legs dangled listlissly, his face was deadpan and his arms were loosely crossed over the Superman emblem on his chest. He had been looking out at the horizon, but then he sighed and let his head droop down.

"I knew I'd find you up here."

Superboy didn't turn around, but he recognized Raven's voice.

"How'd you know?"

"Simple: This is the most isolated place in the tower." She paused. "At least, it's _supposed_ to be."

"Is Cy gonna be okay?"

Raven nodded.

"He just woke up and Beast Boy is helping him."

A joke tried to escape from Superboy's lips, but he repressed it. Raven waited a moment before she said:

"None of what happened was your fault. You shouldn't blame yourself."

"I don't."

Raven blinked.

"Then why are you-" She left it hanging between them.

Superboy sighed again and looked away. With tones of deepest regret and shame, he admitted:

"I liked it."

Raven's delicate eyebrow rose.

"What?"

"I liked it." The Boy of Steel repeated. "I actually enjoyed being under the influence of that red kryptonite stuff." He hung his head as if he were the scum of the earth.

"Of course you enjoyed it."

Superboy's head shot up in surprise.

"What?"

"Superboy, the red kryptonite you were infected with negated your conscience. A person without a conscience has...unbelievable freedom. To do whatever he or she wants without a care for the consequences. You might be half-Kryptonian, Superboy...but you're still only human."

Superboy thought about it.

"Then...you're not mad at me?"

"None of the things you did are unforgiveable."

A bit of the old Superboy came back in the form of a half-smirk.

"None of them?" He asked suggestively.

"..."

"..."

"...I'll just use extra mouthwash tonight."

They looked out at the horizon together in silence for a moment.

"So..." Superboy finally said tentatively. "Did you like it?"

Raven looked at him emotionlessly.

"_Don't_ wanna talk about it..."

"Aw, c'mon!" Superboy pouted. "You had to have like it!"

Raven walked away.

"Not even a little bit?" Superboy called after her.

**SWISH!**

The elevator doors closed. Superboy looked back out at the ocean. He pondered. Finally, he reached into the inside pocket of his leather jacket, pulled out his red tinted sunglasses and slipped them on over his eyes. Then he grinned.

"Pssh! She knows she liked it."


	76. Waiting for the Sunset

_"...You must remember that your ultimate task is to do battle upon the Accursed One. Even if you survive, you...and the world...maybe never again be the same." - Zillah_

_**CHAPTER SEVENTY SIX**_

_**WAITING FOR THE SUNSET**_

Cyborg opened the metal panel on his chest, inserted a chip and set to work with a finger blow torch. His sweaty brow glistened and reflected the blue flame. Through a grimace, he flicked his good eye at Beast Boy before concentrating again.

"What are you snickering at, green man? You think it's funny that Superboy trashed me?"

"What?" Beast Boy blinked. "Dude! Of course not!"

"Then what's so funny?" Cyborg closed his chest panel and redirected his blow torch finger to his sonic cannon arm.

"Heheheh. Superboy kissed Raven."

Cyborg shrugged.

"What so funny about tha-YOWL!" He rubbed his cheek where an erratic blue spark leapt at him, but then he forgot about it as Beast Boy's words sank in. "_Say what?"_

"It's true, dude. I saw it with my own two eyes! He laid a whopper right on her!"

"So now Raven's in jail for murder?"

"'Sup guys?" Superboy popped his head in the door after a brief knock.

"Oh, my goodness!" Cyborg gasped. "He's alive! Superboy! YOU'RE ALIVE!"

"L-love you, too, Cy..."

The robot hybrid shook his head.

"I can't believe Raven didn't kill you...or a-at least maim you..."

Superboy smirked.

"That's because she liked it."

"Dude, no way!"

"Believe what you want, B." Superboy shrugged. "But once the Boy of Steel gets his lips on a girl, she's _allllllll_ his. You don't have to be jealous."

"I'm not jealous!"

"Really? Then why is your face green?"

Beast Boy let out long, mournful, suffering sigh.

"Maaaaa-_nnnn_! I am _so_ tired of people using that joke on me!" He pondered. "I wonder what Michael Jackson used on his skin..."

"Why?" Cyborg asked him with a grin. "You want to be a white woman who can dance?"

The changeling blew a raspberry at him.

"So, Cy..." Superboy said it slowly. "You all right?"

"I'll be back to one hundred percent in no time." Cyborg assured him. "The one good thing about a titanium body is that it's really, really resilient."

"Just wanted to say, well..." The Boy of Steel sheepishly ran a hand through his hair. "Ya know...sorry."

"Don't sweat it, Superkid." Cyborg waved the apology aside. "You weren't yourself. Besides, Robin's trashed me more than one time in the past."

Superboy blinked.

"Robin?"

"Eh...long story." Cyborg turned and suddenly realized that Beast Boy was sniffling in the corner. "What's the matter, BB?"

Beast Boy wiped a tear from his cheek.

"Superboy kissed Knockout and Raven in the same day..."

"What the matter?" Superboy smirked. "Not satisfied with Karla?"

"It's _Kaili_!"

"Whatever. See ya."

"Where are you goin'?" Cyborg wanted to know.

"Where else?" Superboy grinned and winked at them. "I'm gonna go keep an eye out for Starfire."

Cyborg and Beast Boy watched him walk out.

"He better hope Robin's not with her." Cyborg snickered.

"Heheheh. Or Bard." The changeling shook his head. "Hey, Cy. Wanna show me how to sign up for an email account?"

"Wow, Jonny." Amber said as she looked out at the passing buildings through the window of the, still yellow, SUV. "I can't believe you're living in the big city now."

"Folks always said I'd go far in the world..." Bard replied with a grin.

"Who?" Tim asked bluntly.

Bard rolled his eyes.

"The city," Starfire said. "Though marred by many who possess criminal intent, is a stupendous place to live!"

Robin smiled at her.

"The next time I talk with the Mayor, I'll suggest that as the city's new slogan."

"What is it now?" Nicole asked. "'Hometown of the Teen Titans' or something?"

Robin opened his mouth to reply-

"Ooooh! Is that where you guys live?" Nicole interrupted as she first caught sight of Titans Tower.

Bard looked over at Tim and silently mouthed:

"'You guys'?"

Tim mouthed back:

"She's from New York."

"Oh,"

"It really _is_ a giant 'T'." Amber was saying.

"It's in terribly bad taste, don'tcha think?" Bard said magnamiously. "I've been trying to talk them into making it into a giant 'B'."

Robin shook his head, smiling slightly.

"Beast Boy would be all for it, if nothing else."

"Knowing that little elf," Tim said then. "Ya'll would change it to a 'B' and then he'd change his name to something stupid like 'Change-Man' or somethin'..."

"The green one that turns into animals? How about the name 'Changeling'?" Amber suddenly suggested.

"..." Bard thought about it. "Nah," he decided. "It seems a little, um..."

"Gay," Tim supplied helpfully.

"No, it doesn't!" Amber protested.

"Yeah!" Nicole backed her up. "It's cute."

"Cute?" Tim spluttered. "Super hero names ain't supposed to be _cute!_ Is 'Batman' cute? Forget about Robin for a minute."

The Boy Wonder glared at him, but the big man was already going on.

"He needs a cool name like...um...'Fang'!"

"That's already taken, man." Bard informed him.

"See?" Tim tried to prove his point. "'Fang' is such a cool name that it's already taken!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...Are we there yet?"

**SWISH!**

The door slid open and Raven stepped into Bard's room. As she looked around, it was obvious that her half-brother had left without much notice. The sheets and blankets on his bed were messy, his black cowboy hat hung precariously from one of the bedposts and a few assorted articles of clothing were strewn across the floor. She walked over to the guitar standing in the corner and idly ran a delicate finger across the strings. The sound that came forth was uncoordinated, but beautiful nonetheless. She suddenly realized why she was there. She took the laser pistol Beast Boy had been playing with earlier and laid it on the small bedside table. She knew she should leave then, that was why she had even bothered to come into Bard's room in the first place...but something stopped her.

Raven didn't know why, but for some reason her hand found and grasped the handle of the bedside table drawer. She pulled it open to reveal a plain, black covered notebook. She glanced obliquely at the door before she picked it up and opened it. On the very first page, printed in large, bold letters, were the words: **Titans' Song**. Raven turned the page-

**SWOOSH!**

"Raven!" Superboy announced. "They're back!"

"...Who?"

"Robin, Bard and Starfire. They're about to pull up to the garage! C'mon!" He suddenly blinked. "What are you doing in Bard's room?"

"I was bringing back Bard's pistol." She quickly replaced the notebook in the drawer.

"Stupid pistol..." Superboy muttered. But then:

**SWOOSH!**

Raven let out a sigh.

**SWOOSH!**

"By the way, you still got a little bit of lipstick on the corner of your mouth."

Raven's eyes turned gray-

**SWOOSH!**

Superboy wisely escaped.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Cyborg stepped forward, leading the super-powered welcoming committee. "Looks like the Robin decided to return to the coop!"

"This place is more like an aviary." Robin corrected him as he shut the truck door. "There's more than one bird here."

Starfire was out next.

"I wish to inititate the group hug!"

"Heheh," Beast Boy giggled. "Who didn't miss Starfire?"

"...I _did_." Raven droned.

"Oooooh! I missed you as well, friend Raven!" Starfire sweeped her up in a hug.

"...Oh, goody..."

Bard stepped out while Raven was forcibly disentangling herself from the joyous Tammaranean.

"Before anyone says anything," he told everyone. "I want to say I'm sorry. But Starfire and me left for good reason. Now, on to the introductions." The cowboy pointed at Tim. "That's Tim, who's possibly the biggest loudmouth in the world (and possibly as annoying as Superboy), but he's good to have around when you've misplaced your sledgehammer."

"He's having too much fun with this." Tim muttered to his girlfriend.

"And this is Nicole," Bard went on. "Tim's lovely girlfriend and one of the few sane women in the world who actually enjoys kissing him."

Tim glowered at him.

"And this," Bard finished up as he helped Amber out of the truck. "Is Amber. The most beautiful woman I've ever met who doesn't mind the taste of nicotine." He turned to his introducees. "And these unassuming lookin' folks are the Teen Titans. They're a little weird, but they grow on you."

"Dude," Beast Boy looked at him a little strangely. "You sure are...cheery."

Bard shrugged.

"I'm back home."

"Well, all right!" Cyborg grinned. "Family reunion! Who's up for an _extreme __**breakfast **__**EXPLOSION!**_"

"Yeah, right on!" Beast Boy agreed. "Tofu waffles all around!"

"Nu-uh!" Cyborg protested. "We're having bacon! Lots and lots and lots of hot, juicy, _greasy bacon_! _Boo-ya!_"

"Hell yeah!" Tim agreed, but the two 'cooks' had already run off to comandeer the kitchen. He turned to Bard. "What the hell is 'boo-ya'?"

Meanwhile, unnoticed, Raven had stepped up to 'the most beautiful woman in the world who doesn't mind the taste of nicotine'.

"You're Amber?" The dark sorceress asked.

Amber nodded a little apprehensively.

"And you're Jo-, um, Bard's sister?"

"Half-sister," Raven corrected. But then she looked very seriously at her. "...I'm glad you're here. I don't know you. I have no idea what your personality is or how you carry yourself. But I do know that Bard...he needs you. More than perhaps he even realizes."

"I don't know you either," Amber admitted. "But I believe Bard needs you just as much."

"..."

Raven said nothing.

"It's nice to meet you." Amber offered Raven her hand. The super heroine hesitated for a moment, but then she took it.

**FLASH!**

_Blood._

_Red and flowing._

_Blood._

_Sticky and spilt._

_Blood._

_Thick and oozing._

_Blood._

_"J-Jon-ny..."_

**FLASH!**

Raven shuddered.

"What is it?" Amber wanted to know.

"...It's nothing. Come."

Not too much longer later, the whole gang had gathered in the main room.

"This place is incredible." Nicole said as she and Amber marveled at the building that the Teen Titans called home. Tim, on the other hand, was marveling at something else.

"Sweet!" Tim exclaimed. "Ya'll got a Playcube X2?" He rummaged some more. "Oh, my god! Ya'll got Smackdown Superheroes II? But that doesn't come out for another two months!"

Cyborg smiled broadly at him from the kitchen.

"Just some of the perks of the super hero business!"

"Hey, Tim." Bard said, his grin every bit as wide as Cyborg's.

"What?"

"...I'm in that game."

"Yeah, right."

"He's not kiddin', dude." Beast Boy helped him out. "He really is in that game."

"You're shittin' me?"

Robin cast an eye over at the big man, but decided to let it slide.

Bard shrugged.

"Turn it on and I'll show you."

"Before you do that," Robin said to him. "I want to talk to you."

"...All right." The cowboy followed Robin out into the hallway. When they were alone, he asked: "What is it?"

"I know these people are your friends." Robin started. "But they can't stay here."

Bard blinked.

"Not even for tonight?"

"Well, yes, they can stay tonight. But-" He sighed. "Look, I know how you think, Bard. You want to protect the ones you love and keep them as close as possible. But I can't let them live here in Titans Tower. It's not a motel and it's not exactly 'ours'."

"What if they prove they can be useful?"

Robin looked doubtful.

"Hear me out:" Bard defended his position. "You know how strong Tim is; He'd be a great addition to the team. And Amber's a healer; I'm sure you can see the benefit in that."

"Are you suggesting we make them Titans?"

"Well...yeah.."

Through Robin's face still looked dubious, he asked:

"What about Nicole?"

"She's a veterinarian, ain't she?"

Robin looked at him blankly.

"How could having a veterinarian living in Titans Tower help us?

"Um...Beast Boy's still on the team, ain't he?"

Robin gave him a rueful look, but then he turned away, pondering with half-closed eye slits.

"...I'll think about it." He finally said. He started to walk away, but then he stopped. "By the way, when you're making sleeping arrangements tonight...Amber can't sleep in your room."

Bard rose an eyebrow at him.

"Why not?"

Robin coughed uncomfortably.

"The Teen Titans have a reputation to uphold." He said it delicately. "If someone found out that a young woman was sleeping with you, um, sleeping in your room, that is..."

"..."

"..."

"...Just do what I said."

"Ahem, t-ten-four."

A few hours later, Bard was on the roof, puffing happily away at a cigarette, looking up at the starry sky. He didn't even turn around when he exhaled smoke and said:

"I knew you'd be up here eventually."

"You're different now." Raven answered.

"Hmm?" The cowboy turned to raise an eyebrow at her. He was now back in his regular uniform with the hat, boots, coat and laser pistol hanging off his hip.

"You're not the same person that left this tower." Raven explained. "You're more happy now, and more cheery, and more confident and more..." She frowned, searching for the word.

"Complete?"

Raven looked at him sharply.

"We aren't whole pieces by ourselves, Raven. Friends, family and lovers are the people that complete us, Raven. Everyone has their own 'better half'. And it doesn't even have to be a lover. It could be a friend...or a sibling."

"Ya know," Raven droned. "I thought I missed you all the way up to that last remark."

Bard frowned at her.

"I forgot how consistently you try to meddle with my life." She explained.

"I'm trying to help you."

"I don't need help! Don't you get it? I need space and quiet and detachment. I don't need all-powerful imaginary friends or other such delusions such as love."

Bard threw away his cigarette and very seriously put his hands on Raven's shoulders, looking very directly at her.

"Raven, I'm going to make a promise to you right now. One day soon, I don't know when, you'll be up here again. You'll be standing up here and you'll be watching the sun set over the ocean. And, for a reason you might not even realize, you're going to cry. And you're going to smile. And you're going to believe. And Trigon won't be able to do a damn thing about it."

Raven's eyes were locked onto her half-brother's for a moment, but then she tore them away, down to his chest.

"...Where's your cross pendant?" She suddenly asked, changing the subject. "And how is your arm functioning without it?"

"It's a long story, but I'll give you the facts: The cross pendant is actually _inside_ Amber now. So it's healing affects are filtered through her. She permanently healed my arm."

"...You left to find Amber." It wasn't really a question, but Bard nodded anyway.

"I was tired of not knowing, and not being with her. Like I said before, she's a huge part of me...just as you are."

"I like her."

Bard was surprised.

"Let me give you some advice:" Raven suggested gravely. "Make her as happy as she makes you."

"Um..." Bard blinked. "A-all right..."

But Raven was already walking back towards the elevator, her hidden eyes clenched tightly shut to imprison her salty tears. It was _definitely_ time for some intense meditation...

Bard, for his part, lit another cigarette and turned back to his star watching. He wasn't thinking so much about Raven's advice as much as he was thinking about the promise he had made to her. It _would_ come true. The cowboy didn't know how, but he knew it would. Besides, cowboys never broke promises. Raven would not obtain everything she wanted...but everything she deserved: Happiness and fulfillment and joy. She would learn to smile and, more importantly, she would learn to love it. And cherish it.

A few minutes later, the cowboy finished and threw away his cigarette. It was time to kiss Amber good-night...just as soon as he brushed his teeth.

**ZHHHHT!**

White robed and shining, before him suddenly stood-

"Zillah!" Bard gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"I simply came to congratulate you on completing the first task of the prophecy."

"...Prophecy?"

"I told you of it once before, in your dreams." She quoted: "And when the Earth Angel receives her power, it will be a sign unto thee. Therefore, thou must advise the Predator to hasten to the birthplace of the Archangel, and to welcome into her company the Bird of Day and Night. For together they shall face the Gateway."

"I get it now...the Earth Angel is Amber. The Predator is the Ravager. The Bird of Day and Night is Robin, the Gateway is Slade and the Archangel...is me."

"It is even as you say."

Bard thought about it.

"What was the purpose of it all?"

"There were many." Zillah answered. "But two of them are easily seen here among you."

"Amber and Tim..."

"Yes, the Earth Angel and the Benevolent Goliath are now here with you."

Bard couldn't help it: He laughed.

"Tim is the Benevolent Goliath?" He chuckled uncontrollably.

Zillah smiled gently at him.

"I must confess that, I, too, found amusement in that title for him." Her face suddenly grew grave. "A word of advise for you: Enjoy this period of your life to the fullest."

"Why?"

"..." Zillah looked away.

"Why?" The cowboy said it a bit more forcibly this time.

"...You must remember that your ultimate task is to do battle upon the Accursed One. Even if you survive, you...and the world...maybe never again be the same."

"..."

"Good-bye, Archangel. Be joyful and strive for righteousness."

**ZHHHHHTTTT!**

And she was gone

"I feel bad about this, Bard." Amber was saying as Bard lead her over to his bed. "This is your room: You should be sleeping here."

The cowboy smiled faintly.

"Bard?"

"That's what everyone else calls you." Amber said.

Bard nodded.

"You're right. And it's probably better that you call me 'Bard'. It just sounds a little weird, coming from you."

"But I'm serious." Amber told him, going back to their original subject. "You should be sleeping here, not me. Where are you going to sleep?"

"I want you to sleep here. I've got another bedroom across the tower that's even better than this one and the bed is two time bigger _and_ softer."

"..."

"..."

"...You're sleeping on the couch, aren't you?"

"...Yup. But only if I can beat Tim to it." He smiled down at her and pulled the blankets up over her. "Good night." He tenderly kissed her cheek. "No sunsets."

"No sunsets..." Amber murmured back. Despite her reluctance and unwillingness to use his bed, the tired exhaustion was evident in her voice.

It made Bard smile.

As the cowboy quietly left the room, his mind started to wander. He thought about how happy he was that Amber was back in his life and that Tim was back to his old self. He thought about what Zillah had told him and how he, as the 'Archangel' would have to battle the ultimate demon. But then, most of all, his thoughts were centered around his promise to his sister. Right now, though she didn't even know it, she was waiting for her sunset. And Bard would do everything in his power to make sure it came.


	77. Through the Door

_"Dismount from the bunny or I'll shoot!" - Bard_

_**CHAPTER SEVENTY SEVEN**_

_**THROUGH THE DOOR**_

Bard was dreaming. And he knew it. But, despite having absolutely no logic to back up the feeling, he was scared. The place he was 'in' was familiar, there was no doubt about that. The black void, the craggy, crooked rock pathway, the dead, leaveless trees and the black, four eyed creatures were all things he had seen before. Bard was inside his own mind. But suddenly, the cowboy realized that wasn't exactly true. He was inside his head, that was for sure, but he was inside the part of his head that _he_ resided in. Trigon. What, he wondered, did his true mind look like?

**"This **_**is**_** the true you, son..."**

Bard turned and there was his 'father'. Big and strong and mighty and invincible. Bard hated him, even as he also feared him. But, nonetheless, he snarled:

"Don't feed me your lies! This is your twisted version of who I am, that's all!"

**"Foolishness,"** Trigon snorted. **"As you have said before: I have no control over your mind."**

Bard's blood froze.

**"This,"** Trigon gestured. **"The darkness, the despair, the utter **_**evil**_** of it all... It was all your creation. I simply reside here."** He smiled a sickening smile. **"Thank you for accommodating your old man, son."**

Bard clenched his teeth.

"What do you want?" He demanded.

**"You've been receiving bad advice lately from that sickly girl. I **_**strongly**_** suggest you ignore her."**

"Why?" Bard asked brusquely. "Scared I'm gonna take you to the woodshed soon?"

In a flash, Trigon reached forward, grasped the cowboy by the front of his coat and effortlessly picked him up with one arm. The demon drew him closer until they were face to demonic face. Bard felt hot, suffocating breath on his face.

**"Don't challenge me, boy."** His voice was gravelly and terrifying, promising pain and torture and agony beyond human comprehension with its mere tone. **"I will splash your blood against the walls of any 'woodshed' you prefer..."**

Bard tried to hide his trembling with a strong glare, but he failed miserably as his eyes wavered with fear. Satisfied, Trigon roughly released him.

**"Heed my words, son, or I will take away everyone and everything you love."** Trigon started to walk away, but then he stopped and tilted his head back. **"Or perhap...perhaps I should be concentrating my efforts on Raven?"**

Bard's teeth grit. He clenched his hands so hard that his fingernails drew blood from the soft flesh of his palms. He shook, shook, shook...

_"HRAUGH!"_ Bard leapt forward, but Trigon was already turning and striking.

_**SLASH!**_

The demon slashed open his throat with a clawed hand. In a bloody, quivering mass of flesh, Bard toppled lifelessly to the ground.

"AH!" Bard screamed shortly, waking up and bolting upright on the couch in the main room of Titans Tower.

He wiped the sweat from his brow and tried to stop his trembling with deep, gasping intakes of air. Finally, after his heartbeat stopped pile-driving against his rib cage, he leaned back and let out a long sigh. But then, he hesitantly put his hand to his throat. The lightest of scratches was there...just enough to draw blood. He shook his head stubbornly and directed his attention elsewhere. It took him only a moment or two to realize something wasn't right. The sunlight streaming in through the window told the cowboy that it was midmorning but, despite that, all was quiet and he could see none of his teammates. Bard pressed on his darkened, prescription glasses and looked around once more to make sure.

No one.

_'What in the blue h-'_ He stopped himself in mid-thought and shuddered. He changed it to: _'What's goin' on?'_

"ARGH! Stop moving around so much, Bird Boy!"

"I'm sorry to break it to you, Tim, but as a Titan you're gonna have to hit moving targets."

Tim tried to grab Robin, but the Boy Wonder easily flipped away, landed, and sprung back at him.

**WHAM!**

He buried both feet into Tim's chest and flipped back. Tim, for his part, stumbled back on his heels. His eyes widened. He flapped his arms. He tried to lean forward...

But he fell down hard on his ass, anyway.

"ARGH!" Tim yelled again, slapping the blue mat hard with his palm. "This isn't fair. If you'd let me get bigger I'd mop the floor with ya!"

Robin stepped forward and helped him up, but as he did so, he said:

"It doesn't matter how strong the blow is if it doesn't connect with the target."

"...Jonny-Bard is always saying something like that, too. Why do little people have to be so annoying?"

"Hey, who are you callin' 'little'?" It was Bard, standing in the doorway. "By the way, it's: You can't hurt what you can't hit."

"Yeah, yeah..." Tim muttered. "Why do you even bother sparring with the Bird Wonder, anyway? I bet Batman couldn't even beat'em!"

Bard shrugged.

"I did."

"..."

"I had the element of surprise, though."

"What did you do?" Tim wanted to know. "Kick him right in the ba-"

"Groin?" Bard finished quickly.

"Heh," Cyborg grinned from where he was lifting free weights across. "That's our Bard, all right."

"Don't you have a date with Bill Gates, or something?"

"Pffft. Like I haven't heard that one before..."

The cowboy turned to look seriously at Robin.

"So this means-"

"This is a try-out." Robin answered after he had taken the cowboy over to the side of room. "I won't make any promises or give you any gurantees. I want you to be in charge of Tim's training. Get him combat ready. But, more importantly, teach him Titan etiquette...maybe some of it will rub off on you."

"Real clever," Bard drawled, rolling his eyes.

"I'm going to personally see to Amber's training."

Bard did a double take.

"Shouldn't I do that?"

"No, I don't think you should."

"But-"

"And Cyborg's gonna show Nicole how to work the technology here in the tower. " The Titan leader went on unabated. "It'll be nice to have someone around to hold the fort down."

"...All right. Let me go wake Amber up and-"

"I'll do that." Robin stopped him with a light gloved hand on his shoulder. "You need to start working with Tim."

"But-"

"You can see her at lunch."

Bard muttered about that as the Boy Wonder walked away.

"He's up to something."

Bard jumped. He hadn't known Tim had been that close.

"You heard?"

Tim nodded.

"Yeah, well, Robin is _always_ up to something." Bard told him. "You get used to it."

"Betcha he's got the hots for Amber."

"...I don't think so."

Tim shrugged.

"At least I don't have to worry. The titan working with Nicole doesn't have a-"

Bard stopped him with a glare.

"Ahem, working genitalia." Tim revised the statement.

"How do you know that?"

"He's a robot, ain't he?"

Bard shook his head.

"He's only half-robot. He still has a lot of human parts."

Tim struggled with the idea.

"Well, if he does...then how-" He stopped.

"..."

"..."

"S-so, how 'bout them Yankees?"

"I hate the Yankees."

"So I figured we could kill two birds with one stone." Bard was saying to Cyborg. "You can show Nicole how to work the T-Trainer and I can start training Tim in a, more or less, safe enviroment."

"Sounds good to me." Cyborg agreed. Then the robot hybrid turned to Nicole and Tim to explain exactly what the T-Trainer was, but Bard tuned him out. Instead, he looked at the pair of metallic pods with slight apprehension.

The last time he had been in there, he remembered, he hadn't known at first that it wasn't reality. All of his dreams had come true, but then they had been snatched away when he realized all of it had been wrong. And it had hurt. But that had been a special circumstance, he knew, and it wouldn't happen again. But still...

"C'mon, Jonny Bard!" Tim slapped him so hard on the back that he nearly keeled over. "Let's do this!"

"Be careful," Nicole warned them.

"Don't worry, girl." Cyborg assured her. "It's perfectly safe."

Bard decided not to comment.

Once the two of them were in a pod, he heard Cyborg say:

"Now that they're in, you have to pick a program to put them in. You do that by-"

_**FLASH!**_

Bard blinked and took a moment to reorient himself. It was night now, and he and Tim stood in the middle of an abandoned street save for the dozen or so of black-clothed, orange-faced androids.

"All right," Bard said to Tim as he pointed at them. "Take a good look at these folks, 'cause I can almost guarantee you'll be seeing them again. They're Slade's robots. They're about two times as strong as your average joe and they carry around laser blasters."

Tim merely looked them over for about half a second before shrugging his wide shoulders.

"I can take'em."

"All right, then." The cowboy tilted his head up. "Can you hear me, Cy?"

"Loud and clear, dawg!" Cyborg's voice answered, coming from nowhere and everywhere at once.

"Ready to give Tim a little workout?"

"Thought you'd never ask! Show us how you kick butt, Tim! Attack program starting...now! Booya!"

The androids, who had stood as still as statues before, suddenly became animated. They collectively ignored Bard, drew their laser pistols and pointed them at Tim.

The big man's eyes thinned.

**ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!**

Bard couldn't help but chuckle as he watched Tim run away and dive for cover behind a parked car.

_Heh...been there, done that-WHOA!_

The cowboy leapt back as a car door cut through the air like a frisbee, slicing three of the robots in half. Tim, now twice as big, pounced over the car and body splashed two more. Another robot leapt on his back as he stood back up, but he easily peeled him off, grabbed him by the legs and used him as makeshift club against the others.

**WH-WH-WHACK!**

Tim stood alone in a pile of dismembered, robotic limbs and torsos.

"Ye-ah! Sweet!" Cyborg approved, but then he warned. "Don't grow any bigger than that, Tim. You're aggression levels will get too high."

Tim nodded.

"Not bad," Bard congratulated him modestly.

"Not bad?" Tim protested, his voice slightly deeper because of his growth. "C'mon! I kicked ass!"

"You did good. But I need to go ahead and tell you this before you get in trouble: You can't cuss."

"Why the hell not?"

Bard sweat dropped.

"As a Teen Titan, you gotta be a role model. So-"

He was interrupted by Tim's deep laughter.

"What's so damn funny?"

But that only made Tim laugh all the harder. Bard bit his tongue and revised the question.

"What's so funny?" He asked again without the expletive.

"_You?_ A role model?"

Bard sullenly folded his arms across his chest.

"Are you done yet?"

Tim wasn't.

"I think it's about time we hired a chef, dudes." Beast Boy said, looking over everyone, who had gathered in the main room.

"If you need assistance, Beast Boy," Starfire helpfully volunteered. "Then I could prepare a home of the made Tammaranian dish!"

"Umm...s-sure."

"Very well!" The alien clapped joyously. "Let us commence!"

Meanwhile, Cyborg and Tim were playing 'Smackdown Superheroes II' on the Playcube X-2.

"No way!" Tim exclaimed incredulously from the couch. "Jonny Bard really _is_ in this game!"

Cyborg grinned at him.

"Work hard and you might be in the next one."

Tim's eyes brightened at that thought.

Across the room, Bard and Amber had comandeered the futon from Raven.

"Are you all right?" Bard wanted to know.

"I'm fine. Just a little tired, is all."

"Is Robin working you too hard? 'Cause if he is-"

"N-no, it's okay." Amber assured him. "I'm just not used to it. Robin's drills are a far cry from 'Buns of Steel'."

Superboy looked up from where he was watching Tim and Cyborg play the video game.

"Did someone call me?"

Amber giggled.

"...Amber cares nothing for your 'buns'." Raven droned.

Superboy smirked.

"You don't have to be jealous, babe..."

**ZAP!**

Black telekinesis flung the Boy of Steel (along with his buns) across the room.

"Okay..." Tim sweat dropped. "Don't piss off Jonny Bard's leggy sister: I'll have to remember that."

Raven turned on him.

"Do you want to be next?" She threatened.

Tim opened him mouth-

"Oof!"

Cyborg prudently elbowed him in the ribs.

"C'mon, Tim." Bard called to him after standing up.

"Where are we goin'?"

"To the store. I just decided I'm going to cook supper tonight, so I need to pick some things up."

"...You can cook?" Raven eyed her brother suspiciously.

"I can _grill_. Ya'll do have a grill, right?"

"Cy does." Beast Boy informed him.

"Good. Bye, hon." The cowboy kissed Amber on the cheek before leading Tim out of the room.

"You are not going to stay for lunch?" Starfire called after them. "Would you like me to save you some-"

Tim opened his mouth, but Bard firmly clamped it closed.

"We'll get something while we're out!"

Bard turned to Tim as the double doors slid shut behind them.

"I reckon the first thing I need to teach you is when to keep your mouth shut."

With the radio on a country music station, Bard and Tim drove down the streets of Jump City with the cowboy behind the wheel.

"I can't believe you made us ride in the yellow SUV." Tim moaned bitterly. "Why couldn't we have drove Cyborg's kick-ass car instead!"

"Because Nicole had it blocked in, remember?"

"Pssh..." Tim folded his arms across his chest. "You could have moved it."

They turned a corner and their mode of transportation was quickly forgotten as they both stared out through the windshield.

"What the hell...?" They demanded simultaneously.

"Um..." Bard sweat dropped. "Please tell me that I'm imagining things and that there really isn't a giant pink bunny stomping towards us..."

"...At least it isn't y-yellow..."

The thirty foot tall pink bunny kicked a car out of its way, sending the vehicle sliding across the sidewalk. Citizens screamed and scurried out of the way. Meanwhile, Bard had stopped the SUV and he and Tim had climbed out. Bard reached for his communicator, but then he stopped himself.

"What's the matter, man?" Tim looked at him blankly. "Don't you want to call for back up?"

"What am I supposed to say, Tim? 'Titans, we need your help fighting off this pink bunny! Send back up!'?"

"...Good point." The big man conceded.

**SLAM!**

"Whoa!"

"Dah!"

The hero and hero-in-training leapt to the side just in time as the huge bunny's foot slammed down at them.

"That's it!" Tim muttered under his breath, even as he grew bigger. "It's clobberin' time!"

"Um...I think that line's taken..."

But Tim hadn't heard him. He lifted up a street bench and tossed it with incredible force at the cute monstrosity. But the makeshift projectile simple bounced off of its soft body.

While Tim was pondering that, Bard hummed the wind song under his breath and launched himself up into the air. He barely dodged a wide swipe from one of the bunny's pink arms before he got high enough to look down at it...and the wiry, blue-faced man standing on its head between the two long ears. Bard drew his laser pistol and-

"Dismount from the bunny or I'll shoot!"

The man in the top hat looked up at him.

"Oh, you're the new Titan, huh, kid? If that's the case, let me introduce myself!" He spun for no apparent reason, his red and black cape flapping dramatically around his skinny frame. "I am the incredible, the awesome, the great, the amazing...MUMBO JUMBO!"

Bard yawned and shrugged and pulled the trigger.

**ZAP!**

Mumbo took off his top hat and 'caught' the laser beam inside it.

"Now you don't see it!" The wacky magician twirled the hat until it's opening was pointed at Bard. "And now you do! _Ha!_"

**ZAP!**

The laser beam reappeared out of the hat and hit Bard in the chest.

"Oof!"

Bard was knocked out of the sky. He fell, fell, fell...

**SNATCH!**

Tim caught him before he could crash into the concrete.

The cowboy blinked at him.

"Th-thank-WHOOOOOAH!"

Tim spun and launched him back up. Like a missile, he collided straight on with Mumbo Jumbo and the two of them were flung off the bunny's head, hurdling towards the ground. Bard called up the wind song to stop his descent and Mumbo waved his magic wand. The magician hit feet first and a pair of impossibly long and potent metal springs emerged from his heels.

"Sorry, folks! No time for an encore!"

He started bouncing away down the street in the opposite direction, but Tim would have none of it. The big man pounced-

"Ooooh! It seems as if I have a volunteer from the audience!"

**HOOK!**

Mumbo reached out with a curved rod and brought a utterly surprised Tim to his side.

"Here, hold this!"

Dumbfounded, Tim took hold of the small balloon.

**POP!**

Tim's face was covered with shaving cream.

"Sorry, kid, just something to get you over your stage fright! Now, what's your name?"

"Umm..."

"All right, Mr. Umm! Into the box!"

"Huh?"

**YOINK!**

Mumbo shoved him into a, suddenly there, large blue box.

"Now, for your appreciation only, I'm going to make Mr. Umm disa-"

_"HRAGH!"_

Tim smashed his way out of the box and walloped Mumbo across the face. The magician found his bearings and stood back up just as Bard was swooping down to land beside Tim.

"I don't have time for this!" Mumbo declared. "I'm already late as it is!" He held up his cape and, after he drew it to the side, a door was suddenly standing in the middle of the street. "Toot-a-loo!" He waved and tipped his top hat before he opened the door, leapt through it and slammed it shut behind him.

"C'mon! He's getting away!"

Bard looked at the door warily.

"I don't know if-"

**YANK!**

Tim pulled him towards the door, opened it and tossed him through it before stepping in after him.


	78. Jonny Potter and the Magician's Reunion

_"I refuse...to get my butt kicked...by a __**bunny!**__" - Superboy_

_**CHAPTER SEVENTY EIGHT**_

_**JONNY POTTER AND THE MAGICIAN'S REUNION**_

Upon stepping through the strange door, Tim and Bard found themselves in the back of a classroom.

"All right, children." A brunette woman in a tuxedo leotard and top hat told them from the front of the room. "Take your seats."

"Um..." Bard blinked.

"Um..." Tim blinked.

The woman sighed and waved her wand.

**P-POOF!**

Bard and Tim disappeared in two separate puffs of green smoke and-

**P-POOF!**

-reappeared, in puffs of _blue_ smoke, sitting in two desks. The other teenagers who were occupying the dozen or so desks in the room clapped appreciatively.

"Thank you." The woman said graciously to them with a little bow. "Now that everyone's seated, let us begin: I am the Mystical Zanna and I'll be your instructor. The true wonder of magic is not the magic itself, but the personality of the person using it. Flair. Charisma. Without these two characteristics, magic is empty and pointless. Now, who would like to volunteer to come up here and perform a magic trick, hmm?" She peered around the room, pointedly ignoring the red-headed girl in the front row with her hand raised as high as it would go and making 'ooh' noises.

"You!" The Mystical Zanna pointed straight at Bard with a flourish.

"B-but-"

"Come, come now! Don't be shy!"

"..."

The teacher leveled her wand at him and-

"Okay, okay!" Bard bolted up out of his seat like a shot from a gun, giving a 'what the hell' look towards Tim. "I r-reckon I can try..."

At the front of the class, the cowboy self-consciously hummed and produced a glowing fireball in his hand. With a sweat drop, he hesitantly held it out before him for the class to see.

"Hmm, not bad." The instructor critiqued. "But's it's so uninventive! And you had no flair! No energy! You have to make us love you!"

Bard shrugged, thought, produced another fireball and started to juggle them.

"Very good!" Instructor Zanna approved. "Much better!"

The class applauded.

Bard let out a sheepish grin before-

**YANK!**

Tim dragged him towards the door.

"H-hey!" The Mystical Zanna pointed at them, but then awkwardly caught the two fireballs Bard had left behind in mid-air. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Doctor's appointment!" Tim threw the bad excuse over his shoulder before he nearly flung Bard outside and slammed the door behind them. Once there, he turned to Bard. "If you're finished playing teacher's pet, maybe we can start trying to figure out where the hell we are!"

"Hey, I only did that just so I wouldn't get poofed again!" Bard defended himself. "And we wouldn't even be here if you listened to me! I told you we shouldn't have gone through the door!"

"You did not!"

"...Well...I would have had you given me a chance!"

"Why do you always have to be such a nagging little-"

Just then, the classroom door opened and a red-headed girl in a long robe stepped up to them.

"..."

"..."

Bard and Tim stared at her.

"I'm Haley. Instructor Zanna asked me to take you to the school nurse. Well, come on, then."

She started walking down the hallway. With no real choice in the matter, Bard and Tim tagged along behind.

"Not a bad magic trick." She threw over her shoulder in Bard's general direction, her voice just a bit haughty. "But, just like Instructor Zanna said, it could have been much more inventive. Maybe next time you can make the fireballs different colors. Or even make yourself glow while you're juggling."

"...Right. R-reckon I'll have to remember that next time..."

Haley suddenly stopped and turned towards them so fast that the two boys almost plowed into her.

"You're not from around here, are you?" She asked.

"Whatever gave you that notion?"

Haley sighed and planted her hands on her hips.

"You can't fool me. You're Nuggles, aren't you? At least, until recently, right?"

"Hey! Who are you calling a Nuggle!" Tim angrily cut the air with his hand...then he blinked. "What's a Nuggle?"

"Don't you know anything? Nuggles are people who don't know that magic is real."

"We knew that." Bard covered that up lamely.

"...Right," Haley started walking down the hallway again and the two friends fell in behind her once more. "So, what's wrong?"

"Hm?"

"You're going to the school nurse, right? What's wrong?"

"Oh! Um, Tim here has diarea!"

Tim elbowed him hard in the side. The cowboy turned and hissed:

"Ow! That hurt you sonuva-" He stopped and sheepishly looked at Haley. "Um, I mean, he _did_ have diarea, but now he's just got a headache somethin' awful."

Haley stopped again to look at Bard.

"You talk funny."

The cowboy shrugged.

"I reck-, um, I suppose I do, yeah."

Haley looked at him curiously for a moment, but then she shrugged her petite shoulders and started off again.

"So let me guess," she said then. "You, Tim, tried to take off your head, right?"

"What the-ow!"

This time, it was Bard's turn to do the elbowing.

"That's right. He tried to take off his head. Heheh, silly Tim."

"You're never supposed to remove a body part unless you have supervision. Didn't you know that? You're lucky you were able to reattach it."

"He wasn't using it anyway."

Tim glared at him.

"Sorry, man." The cowboy apologized through a grin. "I couldn't resist."

Tim muttered something dirty under his breath.

Beast Boy flared his dark green wings and was back to elf form almost before he touched the ground.

"Dude," he said to his teammates. "Isn't this the part where some Chinese guy runs down the street all panicky screaming, ahem, '_GODZILLA_!'?"

Raven brought a hand up to her hooded head and winced, since the little green changeling had insisted on yelling his impersonation of the terrified _Japanese_ civilian. Unfortunately, it was probably his best impersonation yet.

"Oooooh! How heinous!" Starfire pouted cutely, her bottom lip stuck out. "This monstrosity belies its cute, pink and cuddly appearance!"

Raven stared at the thing in a deadpan.

"...This is the scariest opponent I've ever faced..."

Superboy sighed, looking around disinterestedly.

"Can we trash the sucker already?"

Robin nodded tersely.

"Titans, go! Watch out for bystanders!"

Superboy flew up towards the bunny's face with his fist reared back, but one of it's arms smacked him out of the air. Even before the arm finished it's swipe, the business end of a grappling line wrapped around it and Robin arced through the air, flipped and landed on its head. He knelt down and started to plant an explosive, but he had mistakenly thought that the bunny's long ears weren't a threat.

**WHAP!**

Robin was sent flying off the bunny's head. He reached for his grappling hook, only to realize it wasn't there.

"!"

**SWOOSH!**

Starfire swooped down and caught him in her arms.

"Th-thanks, Starfire..."

The alien smiled down at him.

Beast Boy charged the giant bunny in the form of a triceratops, but the bunny kicked him away and he smashed into the side of a dumpster. Back in elf form, he sat up dizzily with little bunnies hopping around his head.

"Uhhhh...what's up, doc?"

Meanwhile, Cyborg rose up to eye-level with the bunny on a black, telekinetic disc conjured up by Raven.

"Yo! Munch on this carrot, Peter!"

The man/robot hybrid hit it with a sonic cannon blast in the face. The bunny stumbled back, but then it righted itself and swatted Cyborg away.

"Beware!" Starfire warned as she sat Robin back down on the street. "The cuddly's digestive tract is formidable indeed!"

Meanwhile, Superboy was half-crouched with his hands clenched into fists.

"I refuse...to get my butt kicked...by a _bunny! Haugh!_"

"Umm..." Raven hummed.

**SWOOSH!**

Superboy flew up, dodged an attack, reared back his fist and-

**WHAM!**

The huge bunny staggered back.

"RRRrrahahahgh!" Beast Boy, in the form of a gorilla, laced his hands together and flung Robin up in the air. The Boy Wonder back flipped, spun twice and planted his metal-toed boot into the bunny's chest. The bunny teetered back precariously on its flat feet.

"Cyborg, Raven, Starfire!" Robin called to them. "Now!"

Cyborg aimed his glowing blue sonic cannon.

Starfire's eyes glowed green.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

**WHUUURZAFFFFZAPPP!**

A blue, green and black stream of energy coalesced, sizzled and hit the huge bunny dead-on. Like a collapsing skyscraper, the pink monstrosity fell to the ground. With the threat knocked out, Robin nimbly leapt up on it and examined the hole burned all the way through its stomach. He knelt down next to it, staring at it intently from behind his eye mask.

"Dude!" Beast Boy hopped up and down behind him. "What is it?"

"This wasn't a robot, Beast Boy. There's nothing inside it but cotton stuffing."

Superboy scratched at his hair.

"But then how did it move around?"

"Magic," Raven answered shortly.

"And when you're talking about magic in Jump City," Robin elaborated, the slits of his eye mask narrowing. "You're talking about Mumbo-"

"Jumbo!" Hageroid exclaimed incredulously. "Here at the PigBlisters School of Magicianry and Trickery? Absurd! Pollywalsh!"

"I understand your reaction, Hageroid." Schoolmaster Bumdlebore said understandingly to the big man. "But reports have claimed that he has been seen here within the school."

"This is a big problem, Bumdlebore." Hageroid pulled anxiously at his bushy black beard. "We both know how dangerous and unstable Mumbo Jumbo can be. Most of the administration is busy preparing for the class reunion and we also have the safety of the students to deal with!"

"Your concerns are very potent, I agree. However, I refuse to close down the school unless absolutely neccesary. I will give an alert to the teachers and faculty. The moment Mumbo Jumbo shows himself, we will deal with him."

Hageroid nodded.

"It'll be as you say, Bumdlebore."

On his way out the ancient, gray-haired schoolmaster whom Hageroid had called Bumdlebore caught Bard, Tim and Haley listening outside.

"Is there something I can help you with, dear students?"

Tim and Haley jumped guiltily, but Bard stepped in for them smoothly.

"We were just bringing our friend to see the school nurse, sir."

Bumdlebore looked them over, but then he nodded.

"Very well." He walked away and the three teens let out a sigh of relief. But then the old man stopped and turned back. "And students?"

They held their breath.

"If you see any strangers within the school, tell a teacher immediately."

"Of course, sir."

Seemingly satisfied, Bumdlebore shambled on down the hallway. When he was gone, Tim looked suspiciously at Bard.

"All right...do you have ice water in your veins or somethin'?"

"Once you've been with the Titans for a while," Bard shrugged. "It takes more than a old man to make you blink."

"...Titans?"

Bard sweat dropped.

"Um...I-I think Tim's getting worse. C'mon, let's mosey."

"..."

Haley stared at him.

"...I mean...l-let's go."

"Haley!" Hageroid exclaimed when he saw her. "What are you doing here, child? Aren't you supposed to be in class?"

"Instructor Zanna asked me to show these two the way here. Tim, the big one there, has a headache."

"Tried to take it off, did ya, lad? You need supervision for doing that, ya know."

"I tried to tell him that." Bard couldn't help but add candidly. "But ole Timmy wouldn't listen."

Tim glared at him again.

"While you're looking at Tim," Haley offered to Hageroid. "My friend and I will wait outside."

Bard tried to protest, but Haley was already yanking him away. When they were back outside in the hallway, she turned to him with her hands planted on his hips.

"Who are you?" She demanded.

"...The name's Jonny." The cowboy said it hesitantly.

"That's not what I meant and you know it! You and Tim aren't really students here, are you?"

"What? Of course we are!" Bard assured her, but Haley's gaze didn't waver. Finally, his resolve crumbled and he dropped the facade. He sighed. "No, we're not."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"That's a long story."

Once again, Haley stared at him.

"Tell me anyway."

_I hate stubborn women..._

"All right," the cowboy sighed again. "Have you ever heard of a fella called Mumbo Jumbo?"

"Of course I have! What about him?"

Bard blinked. He hadn't been expecting that answer.

"Mumbo Jumbo is a legend here at Pigblister's." Haley elaborated. "He was a student here thirty years ago, and he was brilliant. Maybe a little too brilliant, though, because he had a knack for causing mischief. Finally, the school administration decided to expel him."

"What for?"

"I don't know. It's one of the most guarded secrets of the academy." Her head suddenly shot up. "You know Mumbo Jumbo?"

Meanwhile, back in the room with Hageroid and Tim...

"All right, lad. We'll have you fixed up in a jiffy!" Hageroid assured him. "Now...where did I put that pixie stapler...?"

Tim's eyes widened.

"Stapler?"

"Of course, lad. Your head probably hurts because you didn't reattached it snug, don't ya know? So, we have to staple it back right. Where _is_ that blasted pixie stapler?"

Tim nearly had a heart attack on the spot.

"H-hey! No need to find that stapler, man! I feel fine now!"

"Come now, Tim. If you're hurting enough to get out of class, we need to do something about it!" His eyes widened. "Aha! Here it is!" Hageroid held up the bulky device.

Tim's pupils dialated.

Haley drug the bewildered cowboy down the hallway, her cute little face determined.

"Wh-where are we going?" Bard tried to dig the heels of his cowboy boots into the tiled floor, but Haley wouldn't have it. The left two, long black streaks along the hallway in their wake.

"We're going to the library. If Mumbo Jumbo really is here, we have to stop him!"

Bard blinked.

"You're gonna find a way to stop in the _library_?"

"Of course, we always find a solution for defeating villains in the library."

"We?"

"Two friends of mine." Haley explained. "But they're off on a field trip to the Screaming Shanty."

"...R-right..." He shook his head. "See here! You can go to the library if you want, but I need to be looking for Mumbo Jumbo!"

"Oh yeah?" Haley flared. "And what are you gonna do when you find him, huh?"

The cowboy shrugged.

"I'll take him to the woodshed!"

The robed girl looked at him funny.

"You'll take him to the Screaming Shanty?"

"Um...s-sure. Riding off now." He trotted off down the hallway.

"Hey!" Haley called after him. "Get back here!"

He didn't.

Bumdlebore climbed the winding staircase decorated with gray slate statues carved into mythological shapes and entered his office through two, huge ornate doors. He ran a gentle, wrinkled hand across the sharp beak of the huge blue bird perched on an elevated platform before sitting down at his desk. The elderly, wizard headmaster leaned back and let out a weary sigh.

Suddenly, invisible trumpets blared out a upbeat song and multi-colored confetti and balloons feel down from the ceiling.

"What the...?" Bumdlebore abruptly stood up, looking around in disbelief. "What is the meaning of this?"

The huge, double doors burst open and, sliding on his knees, Mumbo Jumbo made his appearance.

"TA-DAAAAAA!" The blue-faced magician held up his hands.

"..." The Headmaster of PigBlister's School of Magicianry and Trickery stared at him in consternation.

"Jeez..." Mumbo muttered under his breath as he stood up and dusted off his pants. "Tough crowd."

"Mumbo Jumbo! What are you doing here?"

"You knew it was just a matter of time, Bumdle_bore_! I'm the greatest magician in the land! _I_ should be headmaster here at PigBlister's!"

"Greatest magician?" Bumdlebore scoffed. "You forget, Mumbo: A true magician only has-"

"Joy in his heart. Blah, blah, blah. Are you still saying that windy old line? Let me show you just how a good a magician I am! I am the amazing MUMBO JUMBO!" Something sparkled in the magician's eye mask before he twirled around dramatically with his cape. "Nothing up this sleeve!" He pulled the sleeve open at the cuff to prove it. "And nothing up this sle-"

**SCRIIIICHT! POW!**

Out of the first sleeve came a giant red boxing glove that knocked Bumdlebore out cold.

"Oops..." Mumbo Jumbo cackled. "Guess there was something up my sleeve after all! HAHAHAH!"

In a flash, he leapt over the desk, plopped into the seat Bumdlebore had been sitting in and propped up his feet.

"Ahhhh," he sighed in contentment. "This is more like it!"

Mumbo Jumbo looked left.

Mumbo Jumbo looked right.

Mumbo Jumbo looked up at the ceiling.

"..."

"..."

"...I'm bored."

Mumbo Jumbo leapt up and strutted out of the room. Unnoticed, the big blue bird leapt down from it's perch and started to gently pull and tug at Bumdlebore's robe with its beak.

Mumbo Jumbo skipped down the hallway, humming to himself. He stuck his head in a random room...which just happened to be the room Hageroid and Tim were in. The former gasped when he saw him.

"Mumbo! What are you doing here?"

"Right now, I'm here to get payback! You're the one who ratted me out thirty years ago!" The magician pointed his wand. "Hocus Pocus!"

**POOF!**

Hageroid was suddenly a giant green frog...with a beard. Flabbergasted, Tim stared at him in open-mouthed shock.

"What's the matter kid? Feel left out?"

Tim tried to shake his head, but Mumbo Jumbo was already pointing his wand.

**POOF!**

Tim was transformed into a giant pig...with a beard.

"Well," Mumbo giggled. "I'll leave you two alone." He stepped back out in the hallway.

Tim stared at Hageroid.

Hageroid stared at Tim.

"..."

"..."

"...CROAK!"

"...OINK!"

Back out in the hallway, Mumbo Jumbo was in such a good mood that he started singing to himself.

_#I am the master of ceremonies,_

_So let me set you straight:_

_With just a wave of my magic wand, I'm..._

_Master of your fate!_

_With just some hocus-pocus and sleight of hand,_

_You all are under my command!#_

**PHOMB!**

The fireball hit Mumbo Jumbo right in the back, sending him sliding down the hallway.

"Hey, Mumbo!" Bard called to him. "Has anyone ever told you you can't sing a lick? On the behalf of country music singers everywhere, I feel obliged to take you to the woodshed!"


	79. Snap, Cackle, Poof

_"Let's go find the pixie stapler..." - Tim_

_**CHAPTER SEVENTY NINE**_

_**SNAP, CACKLE, POOF**_

Amber sat on the state of the art weight training machine in the fully equipped workout room of Titans Tower. Her hands were clasped in her lap as she fidgeted. She looked sideways out the large window that revealed Jump City in all of it's urban glory. Jonny was out there somewhere...

**SWISH!**

"Did I tell you to stop?"

Amber jumped and jerked her light blue eyes guiltily away from the Boy Wonder, who had just walked into the room.

"I-I'm just worried about Jonny...Has he answered his phone yet?"

"No, _Bard_ hasn't answered his _communicator_."

"Oh! S-sorry..."

"I have Cyborg and Raven and the others looking for him, though. So don't worry: The cowboy can take care of himself." Robin peered at her strictly. "And, right now, your training is more important than all that. How many reps did you do while I was gone?"

"Twenty or so, I-I think."

"Only twenty?" Robin scoffed, his voice sorely disappointed. "I want thirty more right now. Start!"

Amber stared disbelievingly at him.

"Why haven't you started yet!" Robin barked at her. "GO! Now!"

Amber started to pull the two handles together to meet at her chest.

"Faster, Amber!" Robin paused thoughtfully. "Or are you ready to spar with me?"

Bard's lover quickened her pace immediately. As her muscles started to burn and sweat dripped down into her face, her light blue eyes found their way over to the city-revealing window again.

_Bard..._

Mumbo Jumbo picked himself up off the tiled hallway floor and meticulously wiped the ash and soot off of his cape.

"Bard, is it?" He snarled. "Don't you know it's bad manners to step up on a magician's stage without permission?"

The cowboy squinted at him from behind his glasses.

"This ain't your stage..._Dumbo_."

The slits of the blue-faced magician's eye mask bulged with rage.

"Why you insolent little brat!" Mumbo moved forward as if he were going to attack Bard, but then he seemed to regain his composure and stopped himself. "And you're wrong: This _is_ my stage! This entire school is mine! MUMBO JUMBO'S! So get away from me, kid, you bother me!"

Mumbo aimed his wand-

"Watch out, ya'll! I'm bringing home the bacon, baby!"

Bard watched in stunned, numb disbelief as a humanoid pig creature...thing with a sharp red beard got a running start and plowed into Mumbo Jumbo from the side like a NFL pro linebacker. With the magician sprawled out on the floor again, the pig-man ran over and slid to a stop next to Bard.

The cowboy blinked several times.

"What...in...the...blue..._hell?_"

"OINK! I'm gonna kill you for this later on, Jon-Boy. But right now, we have to kick Siegfried's ass!"

"TIM?"

Mumbo Jumbo was back to his feet.

"Before you do that kids...Pick a card!" He paused. "On second thought...PICK ALL OF THEM!"

A towering wave of giant playing cards rushed towards the two friends, arced and came crashing down on them.

"Oof!"

"OINK!"

A few moments later, Bard rocketed up out of the pile of cards on a current of wind, his adamantine knuckles arcing dangerously with electricity.

"Haugh!" The cowboy flew forward and drew his fist back to smash into...absolutely nobody.

"Sonuva-" He half cursed under his breath. "Where'd he go?"

"Hahahahahah-OINK-hahahahah!"

Bard glared at his swine friend.

"What so funny?"

"You trying to be a bad ass, that's what!"

"...And this is coming from a talking pig?"

"Hey!" Tim raged, his muscled arms cutting the air. "You take that back!"

"...Only if you introduce me to Miss Piggy."

"ARRRRRR-OINK!"

Despite the situation, the cowboy fell into a laughing fit.

"Twenty-nine..." Robin counted strongly. "Come on! One more, Amber!"

Amber sweat and shook and strained.

"I-I-I can't!"

"Yes, you can! Do it!"

"B-But-!"

"No buts about it!" Robin drilled into her. "If you don't do this last rep, I won't hesitate to kick you out of this tower...and Bard along with you!"

Amber's eyes flashed open.

"ArrrrrrrrRRRRRRR-HAUGH!"

"...Better." Robin half-congratulated her, but she didn't hear it. She had fallen forward on the bench, her hair damp and her breathing ragged.

"You think you're done?" Robin asked her relentlessly. "We haven't even started yet."

Amber whimpered pitifully.

Haley rushed out of the library with a thick, dusty book under her arm. She started down the hallway, but then she heard something thump across the tiled floor.

**THUMP!**

"Jonny?" She called out. "Tim?"

**THUMP!**

"R-Ron...?"

**THUMP!**

The redhead inched forward along the wall and peered carefully around the corner.

"_AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH_!"

"_CROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK_!"

Haley caught her breath and breathed, breathed, breathed...

"Hageroid...is that you?"

"Cr-Cr-Cr-Croak!" The black bearded frog-person 'nodded', his dark eyes haunted.

"Mumbo Jumbo did this to you, didn't he?"

"...Croak..." Hageroid 'nodded' again.

"Come on, then. I found out how to stop Mumbo Jumbo!"

"...Croak..."

Bard and Tim came to an intersection in the hallway, and the cowboy picked a path at random. They stalked Mumbo Jumbo silently.

Silently.

Silently.

"...Jon-Boy."

Bard looked over his shoulder at him.

"What is it, Tim?"

"You have to promise me not to tell anybody about this."

"It's not a big deal, Tim. I was turned into a giant slug once."

Tim's beady eyes widened.

"Really?"

"..."

"..."

"...No, not really. I figured it would make you feel better, though."

Tim snorted...a little louder than usual.

"You bastard!"

Bard started to snicker, but then he stopped and raised his hand for silence.

"What is it, man? OINK!"

"Shhhhh!" The cowboy crept forward as silently as his black boots and the tiled floor would allow him. He came to a door and slowly, slowly, ever so slowly, pushed it open...

**SWWWWWOOOOOOOOSSSHHHHHH!**

Like some kind of giant vacuum, Bard was sucked into the room at an amazing velocity. He careened wildly in the air before stopping suddenly in mid-air.

"Ah, a volunteer!" A black-headed man with buck-teeth grinned at his class. "Now class, remember: Never ever try this unless you're under supervision."

"Um..."

**SWOOSH!**

Bard found himself in a coffin like box with his head and feet sticking out. His face turned white as the realization hit him.

"Oh, no..."

The head magician waved his hands and a gleaming saw suddenly appeared. He niched it in the center of the box and started sawing.

"Now, class." He said. "It takes a little while to actually cut all the way through, so this is where a joke would come in handy. 'Let me warn you: I have no idea what I'm doing' is always a classic, along with: 'I know it feels bad to be cut in half, but I do have good news...I just saved a bunch of money on my life insurance!'"

The class laughed.

Bard didn't.

"And...ta-da!" The magician pulled the now two separate pieces of the box away from each other, and Bard saw his cowboy boot-clad feet twitching ten feet away. "And now, we have to put him back together! So we put the boxes back how we had them...like that...and...ALAKAZAM!" The box popped open and Bard hopped out in one piece. The cowboy hurriedly escaped during the thunderous applause from the class.

"Man...OINK...are you all right?" Tim asked him back in the hallway.

"Yeah...I'll live...now let's go!" Bard's legs took off down the hallway...

And his torso fell to the floor.

"..." The cowboy almost fainted.

"C'mon," Tim sighed. He picked up Bard's torso like a sack of potatoes and slung it over his shoulder. Then, he turned Bard's legs around to walk in the right direction. "Let's go find the pixie stapler..."

Bard's only answer was a long series of spasmodic twitches and incoherent ramblings.

Robin and Amber stood on the large blue mat in the training room. Amber stood fidgeting, looking for all the world as if all she longed to do was click her heels together and mutter 'There's no place like home'.

"All right," Robin was saying. "We've started to strengthen your muscles. Now it's time to teach them what to do."

The Boy Wonder fell into a martial arts stance and beckoned her forward with a flick of his green gloved hand.

"Y-you seriously want me to fight you?"

Robin simply motioned her forward again.

"But...I don't want to! I'm not a fighter!"

"I know," Robin told her. "That's why I'm teaching you."

"But-"

"If you don't attack me in the next five seconds, I'm going to attack _you_!"

Hesitantly, Amber stepped forward and arced a weak, open-handed blow at him.

**GRIP!**

Robin caught her hand in mid-strike, turned, pivoted and flung her hard into the mat.

"AHHHH!"

Amber curled up into a ball and started to cry softly, her tears of pain hitting the mat beneath her.

Haley walked down the hall with that dusty old tome still under her arm with Hageroid hopping along behind her.

"I know how to stop Mumbo Jumbo." She was saying over her shoulder to the bearded frog-man. "But first, we need to get you back to normal." She opened the door to Hageroid's workroom just in time to see-

"Wow," Bard said as he was putting his shirt back on. "You're surprisingly gentle when you wanna be, Tim."

Inexorably, he noticed Haley.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...CRRRRRROOOAAAAK!"

Tim blew up.

"That did OINK not come our right!"

Bard simpered.

"S-so...did you find what your were looking for in the library, Hermione?

"...My name is Haley."

"Oh...r-right."

Haley blinked at him, but then she shook her head.

"I found a way to stop Mumbo Jumbo!"

"Well, tell us already!" Tim prodded her.

She looked at each of them with pride shining in her eyes.

"I found out that Mumbo isn't a magician. He's a warlock!"

"..."

"..."

Tim and Bard stared blankly at her.

"Don't you know anything?" Haley sniffed at them in disdain. "Warlocks aren't like magicians: They have to focus their magical energy into an inanimate object. But if that object is destroyed..."

"The wand!" Bard snapped his fingers. "That's gotta be it!"

"Wow, you're smarter than I thought."

Bard opened his mouth to reply to that, but Tim was already talking.

"So all we gotta do is snatch Mumbo's magic stick and smash it?"

"More or less," Haley nodded. "Yeah."

"What are we waiting for, then? C'mon, Tim: Let's mosey."

Haley planted her hands on her hips.

"What about me?"

"You'll be safer here!"

Haley tried to object, but they were already gone.

"Pfft...boys."

Bumdlebore stirred, groaned and opened his eyes back in 'Mumbo's' office. He sat up, rubbed his throbbing head and looked over at the big, blue bird that had awakened him. He smiled at the legendary creature in gratitude.

"Thank you," he told it, rubbing its beak. "You're a good Fokker."

The Fokker chirped at him.

"Yes, I know we have to stop Mumbo Jumbo." Bumdlebore nodded at it. "But I'm too weak. There are kids here that are trying to do just that: Help them."

The Fokker chirped again.

"I'll be all right, you sentimental old Fokker. Now go help them."

The blue bird hesitated for just a moment, but then it swooped out of the room and down the hallway. Back in the office, Bumdlebore let his head fall back to the floor.

"Go...Show Mumbo Jumbo what a true blue Fokker can do...!"

Bard and Tim trotted down a hallway. Tim opened his mouth-

"OINK!" His face distorted into anger. "Damn it! I'm getting tired of that!" He turned to Bard. "How are we gonna find Mumbo?"

"The old fashioned way, Tim: We're gonna look!"

"I'm just ready to get this over with!" Tim vented. "This place is getting on my nerves."

"You and me, both. I'm not used to body parts running away from me. That just ain't supposed to happen."

"I know. If it did, your face would be long gone."

Bard rolled his eyes.

"Are you thing to be funny? We gotta find Mumbo Jumbo and break that wand of his, so shut up before I decide I want some bacon!"

"...That sounded _sooooo_ dirty..."

The cowboy stared in consternation at his spliced friend, but then he suddenly turned his head to the side.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"It sounds like..." Bard drifted off down the hallway, just like his answer.

"Damn it!" Tim cursed. "The last time you did this, your frickin' legs ran away!"

Bard pushed open a pair of open doors and saw a huge theater/auditorium with hundreds of young teenage magicians filling every single seat. Up above where the ceiling was supposed to be, was instead a night sky complete with a full moon and shooting stars...discounting the logical conclusion that it wasn't even nighttime. But what really concerned the cowboy was Mumbo Jumbo, standing on the stage in front of the throng of students.

"Students, I regret to tell you that Professor Bumdlebore is no longer the Headermaster here at PigBlister's." The students murmured among themselves at that announcement, but Mumbo lifted a finger and continued: "But fear not! For I, Mumbo Jumbo, shall be your new Headmaster!"

Gasps ran through the crowd. Obviously, the students were aware of the name 'Mumbo Jumbo'.

"And my first act as Headmaster," Mumbo went on. "All teachers are fired!"

The students all looked puzzedly at each other...and cheered.

_This has gone on long enough...I'm ready to go home._

"Hey, Mumbo! How are you gonna be a principal of this school when you're behind bars!" Bard shouted at him.

Mumbo Jumbo grit his teeth.

"YOU?" He seethed. "Why don't you just go home, watch John Wayne movies and fondle your wand already?"

Tim covered his face with his hands/hoofs.

"Oh, no..." The pig-man sighed. "You went and pissed him off..."

Bard's face turned red.

He took off his cowboy hat and put it on the floor.

He grit his teeth.

His fist clenched...

"HRAUGH!"

The slits of the rogue magician's eye mask thinned as he saw the cowboy flying at him on a current of wind.

"...EEP!"

**WHAM!**

Mumbo was sent skidding across the stage. He started to slowly rise to his feet, but Bard jerked him up by his cape.

"Are you ready to come quietly?" Bard spat at him from between grit teeth. "Or do you want another knuckle sandwich with extra adamantine?"

Obliquely, Mumbo pointed his wand at the crowd of students.

"HOCUS POCUS MUMBO JUMBO!"

**POOF!**

Bard looked. The students...every single one of them...were now ninjas. Clad in black from hooded head to ninja booted toe. The cowboy released his grip.

"...shit." He snapped out of it and shouted at Tim: "Don't hurt'em!"

"The hell with-OINK-that! I'm worried about them hurting _me_!"

At least a dozen of the 'ninjas' somersaulted forward and landed before Bard on the the stage, all in fighting positions. They dove forward at him.

"!"

Mumbo Jumbo sprinted down a hallway, snickering gleefully to himself. Once that cowboy and his farm animal friend were out of the way, he was free to do whatever he wanted here at PigBlister's.

**SCRIII!**

Out of nowhere, Bumdlebore's large, blue bird sailed at the magician and scratched at his face. Mumbo brought his hands up, grasped at the creature and flung him away.

"Ow! That hurt, you Fokker!" He leveled his wand at the exotic creature...

**WHACK!**

Once again, Mumbo Jumbo was sent sliding across the floor. But this time, his wand fell from his grasp and bounced along the floor.

"Who says books are worthless?" Haley grinned, the giant, musty book poised in her hands. But, then, both her and Mumbo's eyes fell upon the wand on the floor.

"..."

"..."

The both dove for the magical relic, but Mumbo was closer. His fingers brushed the wand...

**SWOOSH! SNATCH!**

A flash of blue swooped down and clutched it in its talons.

"Argh!" Mumbo yelled out in frustration, shaking his fist. "Blasted wand-stealing Fokker!"

The bird flew over Haley and dropped it in her hands.

"Nooooooo!" Mumbo leapt at her-

**SNAP!**

"HRAUGH!

With his head down, ran forward like a charging battering ram, knocking ninja/students out of the way. Suddenly, one of them nimbly leapt on his back and started choking him with a garrote.

On stage, Bard blew away some ninja/students with a conjured wind and back-kicked another who was sneaking up behind him in the groin. From out of nowhere, a ninja/student flung a shining metal shuriken at him.

**SW-SW-SW-SW-SW!**

The cowboy tightly shut his eyes...

**POOF!**

The student choking Tim suddenly fell to floor after the garrote he was holding vanished into smoke. Tim whirled on him, his green eyes angry.

"I-It's all right!" The student assured him. "The spell is broken now and I'm not trying to hurt you."

Tim smacked him anyway.

**SW-SW-SW-SW-POOF!**

The shuriken smoked in mid-air and turned into a banana.

**WHACK!**

"Ow!" Bard howled. "Sonuva-!"

**POOF!**

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLL YEAAAAAAH!" Tim cheered, leaping up and down. "Tim is no longer a pig!"

"I know a lot of folks who would disagree." Bard told him, trotting up beside him.

"Pfft...love you , too, Clint."

At that moment, the doors opened and Headmaster Bumdlebore majestically stepped inside the auditorium with Haley and Hageriod and Fokker following close behind. Mumbo Jumbo was unconscious, draped over Hageroid's huge shoulder.

"Friends," the Headmaster said to Tim, Bard and Haley. "You have done us an incredible service today by vanquishing Mumbo Jumbo, and showed marvelous courage, as well. PigBlister's owes you it's existence. As such, I will fulfill any requests you desire."

Bard opened his mouth-

"I wanna know why Mumbo Jumbo was expelled!" Tim said. "Hageroid told me about it and now I'm curious!"

"..." Bumdlebore said nothing.

"C'mon!" Tim cajoled the old magician. "You said any request! So spill it, pops!"

With a sigh and a red face, Bumdlebore whispered into Tim's ear...who promptly fell into a laughing fit.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! I bet Hageroid had fun pixie stapling THAT back on! HAHAHAHAH!"

Everyone in the huge auditorium sweat dropped.

"Um..." Bard stepped forward. "If it ain't too much to ask, me and Pixie-Boy need to get home."

"Why, of course." Bumdlebore started waving his hands through the air. "BUM-BUM-DLE-BORE!"

**POOF!**

Bard and Tim were suddenly standing back on the street in Jump City.

The cowboy looked right.

No magicians.

The cowboy looked left.

No ninjas.

The cowboy looked down.

His legs were still there.

"Dang, it's great to home..."

"I'm read to go back."

Bard whirled to face Tim.

"Say what?"

His burly friend pointed at the smashed hood of the yellow Sports Utility Vehicle.

"I'm the one who has to explain that to Nicole." Tim simpered.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...Sucks to be you."


	80. Trouble in Paradise

_"Amber...is...not...__**you**__! She's a hell of a lot prettier and she doesn't have a bat stuck up her ass!" - Bard_

_**CHAPTER EIGHTY**_

_**TROUBLE IN PARADISE**_

**SCZZZZZZ!**

With a pair of metal tongs, Bard threw the raw, thick steaks onto the grill.

"Aw, yeah!" Cyborg grinned/cried. "Nothing better than juicy, flaming steaks on the grill...'cept for ten pounds of tender, barbeque ribs!"

"Ha!" Tim slapped the robot hybrid heartily on the back. "Tell it like it is, man!"

"Dudes," Beast Boy interjected. "Do you have any idea how many cows had to die to-"

"Shut up!"

"Shut up!"

"Shut up!"

"Ahem...s-shutting up now..."

They were all up on the roof of Titans Tower. As Bard had promised, he was cooking supper that evening.

Cyborg turned to Tim.

"Wanna shoot some hoops, dawg?"

"Sure," Tim grinned. "I can take a few minutes outta my day to take you to school!"

"Heh, come try it, big man!"

Bard flipped a steak and looked up as the two of them made their way over to the basketball goal.

"Tell Raven to throw on her cheerleading uniform!"

Tim's eyebrows rose suggestively.

"Cheerleading uniform?"

"Easy, tiger! You're already in hot water with Nicole as it is!" The cowboy yelled after them. "And Cy! If he gets under the basket, foul him! He shoots free throws like Shaq! Or a girl. Pick one!"

Tim muttered something at that, but he was too far away for Bard to hear exactly what. He imagined it was something quite colorful and explicit, however. Beast Boy tapped him on the shoulder from behind.

"Here!" The changeling handed him a packet filled with...hot dog-like things.

"What's this?"

"My dinner!" Beast Boy announced proudly. "Tofu dogs!"

"Nu-uh. There's no way I'm putting those on the same grill with _real_ food!"

Beast Boy's face scrunched up-

_A little harsh there, cowboy..._

"Ahem," Bard cleared his throat. "They'll get cooked." He started tossing them on the grill, but he _did_ make sure they had absolutely no contact whatsoever with the 'real food'.

"Cool!" Beast Boy gave him a quick peace sign and grin before scampering off to join the impromptu basketball game.

"Hmm..." Starfire had walked up and levitated slightly to look over Bard's shoulder. "They do not look like sharpened wooden sticks to me."

Bard laughed shortly.

"No, Star. These are a different kind of steak."

"Are they pleasant tasting?"

"With me cooking'em? They'll melt in your mouth."

The orange alien's eyebrows furrowed.

"They will liquefy?"

"...They'll taste really good."

The steaks were a little undercooked, but, all in all, satisfactory. The tofu dogs, on the other hand, (or so Beast Boy declared), were absolutely perfect. The team sat at a picnic table, opting to have dinner on the roof, trying to enjoy the more mild weather before winter set in for good. Superboy and Cyborg were busy ragging on Tim and Beast Boy who had lost the two-on-two basketball game, but Bard was only half-listening...because one person was missing from their group.

"Are you _sure_ Amber's all right?" Bard asked Robin for the millionth time.

"Yes, Bard. She's _fine_." Robin stressed.

"Then why do you reckon she hasn't come up here yet?"

"Maybe she's not hungry."

"...Maybe." The cowboy didn't sound convinced. "...I'm goin' down to see her." He decided.

He stood up, but Robin caught his arm.

"She'll come up when she's ready."

Bard looked at him strangely.

"I'm just gonna go make sure she's okay. Let go of me, Robin."

The two of them locked eyes, darkened glasses to twin eye slits.

"..."

"..."

The Boy Wonder finally relinquished his grip.

Bard made his way over to the elevator, but there was no need. Just as he reached for the button to call it up, the doors opened and there was Amber. She was dressed in workout clothes: Gray sweat pants and a heavy, hooded sweater of the same color. She looked tired and she seemed to hold her right arm a little closer to her body than usual...

"Are you all right?" Bard asked her immediately.

Amber obliquely looked over and saw Robin gazing at her.

"I-I'm fine. Just a little tired."

Some of the worry left the cowboy's face.

"Well, mosey on over here. I know you must be hungry." He grabbed her arm to lead her over-

"AHhhhhH!"

Bard jerked his arm back as quick as lightening.

"Amber? What's wrong?"

"..." The girl looked at her shoes.

Slowly, tenderly, Bard grabbed her arm again and rolled up the sleeve...to reveal a white cast. His eyes widened.

"Why didn't you tell me about this, Amber? What happened?"

"..."

"She had a little accident when we were sparring." Robin supplied, striding up to them.

Bard opened his mouth. He closed it along with his eyes. He took a deep breath.

"You _fought_ Amber?" He said it as calmly as possible.

"...Come on, BB." Cyborg suddenly suggested. "It's our turn to do dishes."

"No, it isn't!"

**WHUMP!**

The changeling rubbed his side.

"I mean...y-yeah. Let's go."

But Robin and Bard, with Amber standing nervously behind them, were blocking the way to the elevator.

"She has to learn to defend herself, Bard." Robin was saying.

"Not against _you!_ You don't have to teach her how to beat up twenty thugs blindfolded with one of her hands tied behind her back! She's a _medic_, not a fighter!"

"Oh, yeah? What happens when Slade or Brother Blood or Jinx catches her alone? Then what?"

"That's not gonna happen."

"You can't be there with her all the time, Bard!"

"I'll be there for her _always_."

"Oh, yeah?" Robin shot back. "If you were there for her _'always'_, then why did you have to travel halfway across the country to go searching for her? Not knowing whether or not she was alive or dead?"

Frozen.

Everything froze. Everything turned quiet. Like a graveyard.

Or a battlefield just before the first shot is fired.

"Take that back,"

"..."

"I said take...that..._back_!" The cowboy took a step forward-

"No, Jonny." Amber was in front of him.

"But-"

"No, Jonny."

Bard took a deep breath and nodded sharply at her, but then he thrust his finger in Robin's face from over her shoulder.

"From now on, _I'm_ taking care of Amber's training. If I ever so much as catch you on that damn blue mat with her again-"

Amber put a hand on his chest, her eyes pleading. Bard stopped his threat short, but he lowered his glasses as if to let his smoldering blue eyes convey what his tongue wouldn't. Coldly, he turned away from Robin, put his arm carefully around Amber's shoulder and led her to the elevator. When they were gone, Robin brought his arms to his sides and let his cape drape over him. Suddenly, he turned his head to the side to look at his teammates.

"What?" He demanded.

No one answered.

But it wouldn't have mattered anyway since Robin, without another word, determinedly paced around the elevator and descended the stairs.

After a moment, Tim leaned over towards Superboy.

"Does that happen a lot?"

The Boy of Steel blinked and shook his head, as if he didn't believe what he'd just seen.

"_I've_ never seen it happen before." He looked over at Raven. "Have you?"

"...They're both being idiots." She droned.

"You didn't answer the question."

Raven pulled her hood up and turned to him.

"Not with those two, no. But this team's had its fair share of arguments. Most of them pointless."

"Me and Robin had at it once." Cyborg recounted. "But it was pretty juvenile. That, on the other hand...was just plain cold."

"..."

"..."

"Friends," Starfire said softly. "I do not like this."

Everyone silently agreed.

When Bard and Amber reached his room, the cowboy was still seething. With no other way to vent his frustration, he picked up a pillow off the bed, turned and tossed it as hard as he could against the wall. The soft object hit with a soft 'thump' and lay meekly on the floor.

"Bard...Jonny...please calm down. It's not that big a deal."

"Not a big deal?" He retorted. "He _broke_ your _arm_, Amber!"

"It was an accident..."

"I know that, Amber. But he shouldn't have been so rough with you in the first place."

"...H-he was no rougher than a criminal would be."

Bard looked at incredulously.

"You agree with him?"

"I don't know. I really don't. I just hate to see you and him fighting."

Bard opened his mouth, but a sudden thought hit him.

"Amber, why didn't you just heal it?"

The love of his life shook her head.

"I guess it doesn't work that way. I tried, but it wouldn't work. Your sister fixed it up as best she could."

Bard nodded, his eyes pondering that

**WRIII! WRIII!**

"What's that?" Amber gasped.

"Just the alarm. C'mon."

Not long later, the two of them arrived in the main room where the rest of the team had already gathered.

"What's going on?" Bard asked.

"Adonis is causing havoc in the streets." Robin answered him neutrally. "He's breaking into ATM machines all along Main Street."

"In broad daylight? He don't sound like the sharpest knife in the drawer to me."

"You shouldn't take him lightly."

"I _wasn't_."

"..."

"..."

"Hey!" Tim broke the silence. "Shouldn't we be, ya know, going to tear this guy a new one?"

Robin didn't acknowledge him but, nonetheless, he said:

"Titans, go!"

Bard turned to Amber.

"We'll be back soon. Stay here and keep Nicole company."

Robin had stopped at the door.

"She's coming along."

Bard whirled on him.

"She's hurt, Robin. She needs to stay here!"

"...You'll be there for her, right? She's coming." He ran off.

"Jonny..." Amber started.

"No," Bard shook his head. "It's all right. I _will_ be there. C'mon.."

He waited just long enough for Tim to give Nicole a goodbye kiss and then the three of them headed towards the elevator.

"Haugh!" The young kid in the red, robotic suit yelled and tossed a small, metal mailbox across the street and into a lamppost, toppling it over.

**CLANG...THUNK!**

Perhaps fifty yards away, Bard pulled the Harley to a stop and switched it off. He dismounted, turned and helped Amber off the vehicle. He led her behind a car and gently pushed down on her shoulders, getting her to crouch behind it.

"Stay here." He instructed her. "But stay where I can see you. All right?"

Amber nodded.

"Be careful, Bard."

"I always am."

He turned and ran towards Adonis just in time to see Cyborg being tossed aside like a bean bag sack.

"Titans, go!"

Robin dove in, his bo staff twirling. Adonis blocked two swipes of it with his heavily armored forearms and back-slapped the attacking Boy Wonder away.

"Puny fools!" The villain raged. "No one can stop the mighty Adonis!" He turned, picked up a small, foreign car and tossed it impossibly far away.

"Bard!" Robin called to him, getting to his feet and pointing at the airborne vehicle. "Make sure it doesn't hurt anyone!"

Bard blinked.

"Shouldn't Superboy-"

"Now!"

The cowboy looked quickly over his shoulder at Amber before singing the wind song and flying up after the car. He caught up to it at the peak of it's flight, landed on the roof and held on for dear life.

_All right...now what? Super-strength would be nice here..._

_#But sometimes at night, when the cold wind blows...#_

Bard sweat and strained, using all his energy to try to stop the car's descent. But it wasn't enough.

"WATCH OUT!"

**SMASH!**

Bard was flung off the car with incredible force. He hastily erected an ice shield around himself, but it instantly shattered into a million pieces on contact with the hard road. The shards left dozens of small cuts on his face before he bounced and rolled across the ground. The cowboy groaned and closed his eyes.

_Amber!_

His eyes popped open. Before he even realized he was humming, he was back in the air again, flying back. He ignored Adonis and the other Titans in his search for Amber. He looked at the car he'd left her behind: She was gone! The cowboy calmed down, however, when he noticed her just a bit further up the street. He turned back to the battle-

**WHAM!**

Bard ragdolled back from Adonis two-handed blow and crashed back-first into a small, city tree. Weakly, he tossed a fireball as he slumped to the ground, but the metal suited villain leapt out of the way...and the fiery sphere smacked into Robin from behind. The Boy Wonder was sent flying, but Bard barely noticed because-

**THWAP!**

-he was kicked hard in the side by a large, metal boot.

"Hey, Tron! Pick on someone your own size!"

Adonis turned...right into Tim's overhand right jab.

**WHAP!**

Adonis spun away into Cyborg's famous left hook.

**CRACK!**

Adonis stumbled back...and that's when Superboy swooped in with a uppercut.

**BOOM!**

Beast Boy, in the form of a emerald eagle, flew up after the airborne villain. Just before gravity came into play again, the changeling morphed into a kangaroo, front flipped and smashed down with his tail.

**WHACK...SMASH!**

"Ugh..." Adonis lay in a crater in the street, out cold.

"Robin!" Starfire swooped down to check on the fallen Boy Wonder and, at almost the same time:

"Bard!" Amber ran over and knelt besides the cowboy.

"Hey, Raven!" Superboy called to her. "You gonna ask if I'm okay?"

"...You wish."

Meanwhile, Amber had held her hands out to Bard's face. She closed her light blue eyes in concentration and her palms started to glow gold. When the glow faded, the cuts and abrasions had disappeared from Bard's face.

"Thanks, Amber." He told her gratefully he stood up and-

**YANK!**

The cowboy suddenly found himself forced forward and down as Robin grabbed him by the front of his heavy coat.

"Where is your head at, Bard?" The Boy Wonder demanded of him.

"It's not in my ass, where yours is!" Bard broke Robin's grip on him.

"You've become a liability!" Robin went on. "You took me entirely out of the fight!"

"Well, hellfire! _Excuse_ me if it's just a _little_ hard to aim a fireball when a red tin-man is wailing on you!"

"It's not just that! I had to take a hit to protect your girlfriend when you weren't there!"

Bard eyes widened and his teeth grit.

"It's your fault she's here! I told you she was hurt and needed to stay behind, but you wouldn't listen! And _I_ would have been there had you not sent me on that fool's errand with the car. What was I supposed to do with it? We both know that Superboy should have been handling that!"

"Superboy was busy. This just proves that Amber needs to-"

"Busy?" Bard demanded. "Superboy was too busy to take two seconds out of his day to blur over and catch that car! That's a load of bull, so don't feed me that crap! I know you tried to set all this up, but you ain't that slick! It all comes down to this: Amber has a broken arm and she shouldn't have been here in the first place!"

"We're the Teen Titans, Bard! We get injured all the time! When my arm was broke, I still forced myself to-"

"Don't you get it?" Bard pounded into him. "Amber...is...not..._you_! She's a hell of a lot prettier and she doesn't have a bat stuck up her ass!"

The slits of Robin's eye mask narrowed dangerously.

"What are you-"

"Do you really think we don't know? With all the obsessive training you put yourself through? The way you're always throwing yourself head-first into any criminals we face? We know why you do it all! You're trying to earn the respect of someone who doesn't even want you in his life anymore!"

Everything froze again. Everything went quiet again. Like a graveyard. Or a battlefield. And, this time...

The first shot _was_ fired.

**BAM!**

Robin's green, gloved fist clipped Bard right on the jaw. The cowboy stumbled back unsteadily, but then he righted himself and leapt forward with a bellowing rebel yell.

**GRIP!**

Both Tim and Superboy caught him from behind, restraining him. At the same time, Cyborg and Beast Boy took hold of each of Robin's arms. The Boy Wonder tried to make his way forward, but he was held tight by his two teammates.

"Argh! You got a problem, cowboy?"

"Yeah! It's four feet tall and has some major emotional problems!"

"Do you want another right jab?"

"That first one was a sucker punch, Bird Boy! You'll find it a lot harder to him me when I know it's comin'!"

"_STOP IT!_"

Everyone stopped and turned their heads towards the sound of the uncharacteristically authoritive voice.

It belonged to Amber.

"Stop it!" She yelled again, tears in her eyes. "It's obvious you're fighting over me! So I'll save you the trouble: _I QUIT!_" With a muffled sob, she turned and quickly walked away.

"Amber! Amber, no! Come back! Amber!"

But she continued her pace undaunted.

"I...I will s-see to her." Starfire volunteered herself weakly. She slowly flew off after the healer.

But Bard didn't even notice because his eyes had fallen back upon Robin.

"You!" He raged, his face red. "This is your fault!" He somehow broke Tim's grip on him and leapt forward, but Superboy held strong, jerking him back.

"Haugh!" Robin broke free from Cyborg and Beast Boy, leapt forward and-

**ZAP!**

-crashed headlong into a translucent, obsidian wall.

"Enough!" Raven demanded harshly, the gray glow fading from her now violet eyes. "You're both acting like brainless idiots! If you _must_ have this 'discussion', I suggest the two of you have it away from the public eye!"

The wall of telekinesis fell and Bard shrugged himself out of Tim and Superboy's grip. He and Robin glared coldly at each other.

"..."

"..."

They angrily walked away and mounted their respective motorcycles. Twin engines fired up and, with tires squealing, the two of them zoomed off in opposite directions just as the sun lowered beneath the horizon.


	81. Compromise

_"Amber __**and**__ Starfire is in his room? Together?It's Jon-Boy's fantasy come true!" - Tim_

_**CHAPTER EIGHTY ONE **_

_**COMPROIMISE**_

Bard took a deep drag from his cigarette, flicked ashes into a cheap, tin ashtray and took a sip from his glass of Dr. Pepper. He sat at the bar on a stool, his eyes far away and his ears barely registering the soft, country ballad pouring scratchily out of the old yellow jukebox in the corner. The song could have been called 'Cigarettes and Dr. Pepper' for all he knew. Maybe it was. Finally, he looked over and asked:

"How'd you find me?"

"I know you better than anybody, Jon-Boy." Tim answered him. "This place is the closest thing this city has to a honky-tonk. 'Sides, Blue's Harley being outside is kinda obvious. I'm surprised you still have that thing, to tell the truth."

"Why?" Bard asked bluntly. "It's not like Blue can report it stolen or anything." He paused. "Say, do you remember when he used to ride it to the warehouse? He'd always park it in that side alley, right?"

"Yeah. So what?"

"So, the last time I went there to tell'em all that I was leavin', it was parked right out front."

"I never seen him do that before."

"I'd wager you ain't ever seen him leave the keys in the ignition of that bad boy, neither. I reckon Blue wanted to give me half a chance to get out of there."

"I figured Blue still had a lil' bit of decency in him, but I didn't come here to chat about the 'good ole days'."

Bard nodded ruefully.

"You wanna talk about what's goin' on betweenme and Robin."

"Hell no. I don't really know Robin, so it ain't my place. 'Sides, if I got between you two hotheads, I'd probably get a fireball in my face and metal stick shoved right up my-"

"Don't wanna hear about your sex life, Tim."

"That was a low blow, man. But comin' from you, I shouldn't be surprised. Ahem. Anyway, I came down here to tell you something."

"Tell me what?"

Tim hesitated, but then he shrugged and said:

"I don't wanna be a Titan."

Bard blinked.

"Say what?"

"Hey, you never even asked me about it, ya know."

"Does this have anything to do with what's goin' on with me and Robin? 'Cause if it is-"

"It ain't." Tim assured him. "Look, I don't mind clubbin' down regular criminals, but I draw the line at fightin' freaks who can toss cars ten blocks away or can hocus pocus your ass into a character from 'Charlotte's Web'.

"...Fair enough. So, what are you gonna do now?"

"I figured I might be a cop."

"A cop?"

"Don't sound so surprised. I'm trying to do exactly what you're doing."

"And what's that?"

Tim shrugged.

"Atoning for the past."

"...I never really thought about it that way." The cowboy turned his head, thinking. "Actually...I reckon I didn't think about it at all when I joined the Titans. I just did it because...I dunno, I reckon because I felt like I was supposed to."

"Well, I hope you do better next time then you did today."

Bard cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Jon...you got your ass kicked."

"You didn't even hit that tin man. Not even once."

"That's Robin's fault! He's the one that made me drag Amber down there."

"So...you got your ass kicked because Amber was there?"

"...How 'bout I kick your ass in a game of pool?" The cowboy invited him, changing the subject.

"I can't. Animal Boy is outside waiting for me."

"Beast Boy? Why didn't he just come in with you?"

"Hell," Tim shrugged. "How am I supposed to know? Maybe he's got something against country music. He looks like a rocker to me. Anyway, I need to get back to the tower and let Nicole bitch at me some more. Don't drink and drive."

"Wow," Bard drawled. "That was clever."

The big man headed for the door, but he suddenly stopped and snapped his fingers.

"Before I forget," he threw over his shoulder. "Beast Boy said to order some pie. It's supposed to be good here."

Robin took in a deep, meditative breath, held his body taut and firmly drug his metal-toed boot through the sand of the bay, falling into a martial arts stance.

"Haa!"

The Boy Wonder leapt, flipped, hand planted, vaulted up, spun and unleashed a flurry of lightning quick punches and kicks upon invisible enemies. He landed, took a deep breath, drug his foot through the sand and-

"I think you got'em, Robin."

Robin's stance became loose and he shrugged his cape over his shoulders.

"What do you want, Cyborg?"

"I just wanna talk, man."

"Don't feel like it." Robin muttered. He fell into his fighting stance again-

"All right," Cyborg shrugged. "I'll talk and you can listen."

"Perfect." The metal hybrid's face grew serious. "I know you're still upset-"

"I'm not upset."

"...Well, all right. But whatever: Either way, you need to resolve this thing with Bard."

"It's affecting the team, dawg. But you wouldn't know that because you've been out here sulking."

Robin turned sharply to peer at Cyborg. His lithe body tensed, but then he relaxed, shaking his head.

"...Now I know why I made you Second-in-Command, Cyborg: You're not afraid to tell me the blunt truth."

"Do you have something against Amber?" Cyborg finally couldn't help but ask.

The slits of Robin's eye mask squinted.

"Why would you ask me that?"

"...No reason, man. See ya later."

The Boy Wonder watched him go, turned back to the ocean and sighed.

_Gotta keep the line intact, Robin. It's too dangerous to break..._

Starfire had followed Amber back to Bard's room. The alien girl looked around thoughtfully, her eyes drifting over the plain bed, the half-circle couch, even the desert night scene painted on the walls. In her mind, the room seemed to suit the cowboy. It was plain, direct, and, overall, efficient. But, with the scene on the walls, it was beautiful in a simple, understated way.

Starfire's emotions were mixed. This had been Terra's room before they had given it to Bard, and the two people were very different...and similar at the same time. Technically, Bard was Terra's replacement...and that saddened the Tamaranean. But she didn't have time to dwell on it now. She had to see to Amber, who was sitting forlornly on the bed.

"You don't have to stay with me, Starfire." Amber murmured in the general direction of her feet. "I'm all right."

"But you are not all of the right! I cannot leave my friends in distress or emotional turmoil."

Amber let out a small smile.

"No wonder Bard likes you..."

"Please Amber," Starfire told her. "Divulge your pain to me."

Amber look at her, but then she sighed and said:

"When Bard found me...w-with your help, of course...it was supposed to be perfect; happily ever after. But now that we are 'home', it seems like I'm just getting in the way. Like...I'm not supposed to be here."

"You merely need adequate time to adjust. Our lifestyle, or so I am informed, is quite different from normal Terrans." He paused. "Superboy's inclusion to our ranks was not as smooth as you may think. He and Bard disliked each other, and they had some...altercations. But, after a small period of time, they grew to like and trust each other. I am sure Robin and Bard shall reconcile as well."

"Why...why do you think Robin hates me?" Amber asked, her voice meek.

"You must understand that R-Robin is a...complicated person. I believe that, as a friend, he likes and respects you. But he is the leader of the Titans, and he take his responsibilities quite seriously."

"...You're saying that he's so hard on me because he likes me?"

"Well...approximately...y-yes, I am."

Amber gazed at her with calm, light blue eyes.

"You're wiser than people think."

"And you are most inspiring."

The two girls smiled at each other through their blushes.

**BRING!**

Cancungrl33: Beast Boy?

Greenistehcolorolove: Yup! How do you like my name?

Cancungrl33: It's cute. Just like you.

Greenistehcolorolove:) :) :) :) :)

Cancungrl33: How R you?

Greenistehcolorolove: Kinda bummed. Robin and Bard got into a fight today. :(

Cancungrl33: Which 1 is Bard?

Greenistehcolorolove: The chain-smoking cowboy.

Cancungrl33: Okay...HE SMOKES?

Greenistehcolorolove: ...Ooops.

Cancungrl33: hehehhehehe. It's our secret. What were they fighting about?

Greenistehcolorolove: It all started with that Megaman villain reject, Adnois, but it's kinda complicated.

Cancungrl33: Oh...well I hope they make up soon. I'll even write a fanfiction about it.

Greenistehcolorolove: A what?

Cancungrl33: Hehehehe. A girl can dream, can't she? I'd have to add you in somewhere...But never mind. I hope everything works out.

Greenistehcolorolove: Me, too, Kaili, me, too.

Later on, when Bard walked into the main room of Titans Tower, the first thing he noticed were Tim and Nicole. On the couch. Making out. Refusing to come up for cowboy sighed, adjusted his blackhat and pointedly cleared his throat.

The couple didn't notice him and continued their fun.

"AHEM!" Bard tried again.

No effect.

Bard rubbed his eyes under his glasses, ground his teeth togetherand yelled out:

"AIDS!"

Nicole and Tim quicklyleapt away from each other.

"Now that I have your attention." Bard said wryly. "Do either of you know where Amber is?"

"I think she's in your room with Starfire." Nicole supplied helpfully, adjusting her shirt.

"Hehehe," Tim snickered evilly, leaning back like a king. "Amber _and_ Starfire is in his room? Together?It's Jon-Boy's fantasy come true."

The cowboy didn't even attempt to reply to that. Instead, he turned on his heel and headed down the hallway towards his room...and met Robin halfway there. The two teens stopped.

"Bard,"

"Robin,"

The greetings were polite, but also ice cold.

"We need to talk." Robin told him.

"This disagreement of ours...that's exactly what it should be: Ours. I know this place seems like a frat house more often than a government building, but it isn't. We're just another branch of the law enforcement community, Bard, and we're professionals. Whatever our problem, that's what we must be: Professionals. We can't let this affect the team or how we perform."

Bard nodded briskly.

"I hear ya."

Silence. Bard shifted his weight to continue on his way-

"So...Amber's quit the Titans?"

"She was emotional when she said that." He bit his lip, holding back his opinions on why she was emotional and who caused it. "I'm going to talk her out of it now."

"Do you think that's really a good idea?"

Bard looked at the Boy Wonder sharply.

"You wanted her to quit, didn't you?" He accused him heatedly as the thought came to him. "That was you plan from the very beginning, wasn't it? You didn't even give her a chance!"

Robin cut the air with his gloved hand.

"I gave her a chance, Bard! And the only reason I did was for your sake! But she doesn't have it. I saw it in you the first time I saw you, but I can't see it in her. Tim doesn't have it either, if you want to go there."

Bard was taken aback at how Robin had seen that so clearly...at the very least, in Tim's case.

"Tim already told me he's quitting."

"So you're trying to talk Amber out of quitting, but not Tim?"

"The situations are completely different! Tim didn't have all this drama goin' on around him when he made the decision." The cowboy paused and, when he spoke up again, his voice was sincere. "Why is it you don't like Amber, Robin? What did she ever do to you?"

"You really think I dislike her?"

Bard stared at the Boy Wonder obviously. Robin sighed.

"I don't dislike your girlfriend, Bard." He said almost tiredly.

Bard blinked.

"But-"

"I like her." Robin blurted out. "She's a good, kindhearted person. She'd make the perfect friend. But you have to understand that I can't induct Titan members just because a person is nice. Especially in my position, you have to draw a line between business and personal affairs. You have to keep that line intact: It's too dangerous to break."

"...You're saying you were harder on her because you like her? Isn't that like...I dunno...reverse prejudice?"

"It was necessary, and it allowed me to find out that Amber is a liability."

"What?"

"You can't be blind to it, Bard. Adonis isn't the most dangerous villain you've faced so far. You've taken your encounters with Brother Blood and even Slade in stride, but a two-bit crook like Adonis takes you down without taking a single blow from you. You're better than that."

"But that's not Amber's fault! Her arm was broke and she never should-"

"I never meant to break her arm. But you have to ask yourself: Did it really matter that she was hurt?"

"I'll admit that her healing abilities would be useful, but she can't defend herself, Bard, and we just can't leave her in the tower. Our home's been attacked more than once."

"Then we'll just teach her to defend herself."

"Bard, that's what I was trying to do when she broke her arm. I told her to hit me and...she couldn't have killed a fly with the blow she threw at me. She just isn't a fighter."

"Let me train her."

"Bard-" Robin started.

"I know her strengths and weaknesses better than anyone. If anyone can teach her, it's me."

The Boy Wonder looked dubious.

"I'll make a deal with you." Bard offered. "Let me train her for a month. Once that month is up, you can pick any Titan to go up against her in a spar. If you're not happy with her progress..." He didn't finish, not wanting to say it.

Robin thought about it.

"One month?"

"One month." Bard confirmed.

"...You have a deal." Slowly, hesitantly, the Titan leader held out his hand.

Bard merely stared at it.

"...I appreciate you letting me do this and I'm sorry forthe thingsI said earlier, but that don't mean all's well on the southern front. What you did was deceitful and dishonest. I can't forgive that so easily...not when it comes to Amber."

Robin let his hand fall and looked away.

"You're entitled to your opinion." He admitted.

"Damn straight."

With that, Bard maneuvered around him and continued down the hallway, leaving him standing alone.

**Knock! Knock!**

Bard felt a little foolish knocking on the door to his own room, but with Amber upset, he wanted to show her as much courtesy as humanly possible.

"Come in."

The door slid aside and Bard walked in to see Amber and Starfire sitting side by side on his bed. Their faces were pensive, as if they had been in the middle of a serious, emotional conversation.

"...Is everything all right?" He asked them in a tone that told them he was half-afraid of the answer.

Starfire look expectantly at Amber.

"I'm feeling a little better now."

Bard nodded with relief and turned to Starfire.

"Do you mind if I talk with Amber alone for a few minutes?"

"Yes, I will leave so you can speak privately." Starfire stood up and padded towards the door, but Bard gently caught her arm as she passed.

"Thank you for staying with her." He whispered to her.

"O-of course..."

When the orange-skinned alien girl was gone, Bard took her place on the bed and wrapped his arm about Amber's shoulders.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Amber nodded.

"Amber...there's no reason for you to quit."

"I don't want to, but I also don't want to come between you and Robin. I've seen how close you are to these people. They're like family to you and I don't want to be the reason why you-"

"You didn't do _anything _wrong, Amber. I reckon Robin is like my brother now, but it's no big thing for family to fight with each other. And besides, Robin and I have come to an understanding. I'm gonna train you from now on."

Amber looked up at him.

"So you and Robin aren't fighting anymore."

"...Yeah. Like I said, we came to an agreement." He suddenly grinned at her. "So, you ready for me to teach you how to take bad guys to the woodshed?"

Amber's answering smile was beautiful.

Cancungrl33: So...how many gfs have you had?

Greenistehcolorolove: Ha! Lots and lots! Ifrit, Shiva, Carbuncle, Diablo...

Cancungrl33: I meant GIRLFRIENDS:P

Greenistehcolorolove: Yeah

Cancungrl33: So? How many?

Greenistehcolorolove: A few, I guess.

Cancungrl33: Were any of them special?

Greenistehcolorolove: One was, yeah

Cancungrl33: Did you love her?

Cancungrl33: Pokes you

Greenistehcolorolove: Yeah. I think so, yeah.

Cancungrl33: What was her name?

Cancungrl33: Pokes you

Cancungrl33: Beast Boy?

_Greenistehcolorolove is no longer signed on._

Beast Boy let the power cord of the computer fall from his green hand and sat there alone in his dark room, staring unseeingly at the dark screen.


	82. Training

_"...Believe it or not, I've had worse greetings than that." - Tim_

_**CHAPTER EIGHTY TWO**_

_**TRAINING**_

The golden, morning sunlight streamed in from the windows to bathe the Titans Tower training room. It made the room look serene and peaceful.

"I didn't know we were going to start the training thing so soon." Amber was saying, fidgeting from where she stood on the blue mat.

"The sooner we get it done, the better." Bard shrugged. He had decided not to tell her about the specifics of his and Robin's deal. She looked tense enough as it was. "Now, just relax. I'm not gonna make you try to do anything you can't do, all right?"

"What about my arm?" Amber held up her cast-covered forearm.

"We'll work around it. Now, let me see your fighting stance."

"What?"

"Your fighting stance." Bard repeated. "Ya know, how you stand when you're in a fight."

"Oh, r-right." Hesitantly, she brought her feet close together and brought her little fists up to eye level.

Bard forced down his sigh.

"All right, let's work on this."

Amber blinked.

"What wrong with this?"

"Well," Bard scratched at the back of his hair. "The first thing is-"

He gave her a light shove with one hand and she toppled over to the blue mat.

"What was that for?" She demanded as Bard helped her climb back to her feet.

"I'm just showing you that you had your feet too close together. Here...spread'em out like this...and put this one a little bit more forward...there!" The cowboy pushed her again, but this time she barely flinched. "Good." He approved.

"So my stance is okay now?"

"We need to work on your fists."

"What's wrong with my fists?" Amber wanted to know.

"If you hit something with your fist like that, you'd probably break your thumb. Your thumb goes _outside_ your fingers, not inside them."

"So..." She remade her fists. "Like this?"

"Perfect." Bard nodded. "Now, punch me."

"But I-"

"You're gonna have to learn to hit people, Amber. And if you can hit me, you can hit anybody. Now, punch me in the chest."

Amber hesitated for a moment but, upon seeing Bard nod encouragingly at her, she drew back her fist and punched him in the sternum.

"..." The cowboy didn't even flinch. Amber, however-

"Ow!" She brought her good hand to her chest and rubbed it.

"All right," Bard said. "That hurt because your wrist bent. You have to keep your wrist tight when you punch something. And remember that all your power comes from your shoulder, not your arm. Try it again."

Amber's light blue eyes narrowed and her cute little face grew intense. She reared her fist back, let out a high war cry and-

"Haa!"

**WHAP!**

"Oof!" Bard was forced back a step. "Wow, Amber." He said, thoroughly impressed. "You're stronger than I thought you were."

The petite healer smiled shyly.

"Now I'm gonna teach you the three weak spots you should always keep an eye out for: The joints, the eyes and the crotch." The cowboy blinked. "Um...d-does the crotch work with women?"

"...Y-yeah, it hurts." Amber blushed.

"...Ahem, well, anyway. Kicking the knee is always nice: It hurts like he-heck and it usually slows a person down. The crotch is self explantory...you're a woman, so I'm sure you've kicked a man in the crotch before...and then the eyes. If you can manage to poke someone in the eye, you'll have a big advantage. It messes with their sight and-"

"Poke someone in the eyes? Crotch shots?" Amber asked, surprised. "Isn't that a little..."

Bard looked at her, puzzled.

"A little what?"

"..."

"..."

"Um...n-never mind."

"BEAST BOY!" Cyborg yelled at the top of his lungs in a voice that could have probably been heard halfway across the city. "PHONE!"

"Dude..." The green changeling huffed and puffed as he slid into the main room. "Who is it?"

"It's Kaili, man. She wants to talk to you."

"...Tell her I can't talk right now."

Cyborg blinked.

"What?"

"You heard me: Tell her I can't talk right now!"

"..." Slowly, Cyborg brought the phone back to his ear. "Kaili, BB can't talk right now...yeah. Give me your number and I'll tell him to give you a call when he can. Yeah...uh-huh...I won't. Peace."

He hung the phone up and turned to stare at Beast Boy.

"All right, dawg: Spill it."

"Psssh. Spill what?"

"C'mon, man." Cyborg cajoled. "You can't fool me. A beautiful, sexually active woman who thinks you're cute just called and you didn't want to talk. What's up?"

"Dude, nothing's up! I just don't feel like talking right now!" Beast Boy lied fairly badly.

Cyborg crossed his arms across his titanium chest. His face showed that he wasn't buying it.

"I gotta go, Cy. Talk with you later."

The half-robot shook his head as he watched him leave.

"He's got girl problems."

Cyborg started and whirled around.

"Nicole! I didn't know you were there!" He rubbed the back of his head. "Girl problems? BB shouldn't have any girl problems. He's got a sexy little number that adores him."

"That's not what I meant. He's got another girl on his mind."

"How in the world would you know that?"

"The look on his face, it's obvious." The blonde smirked. "Women can see things men can't."

"...What else can you see that we can't?" Cyborg asked.

"Matching colors, for one."

"Heh, touche..."

"So, who is this girl?

"Kaili?"

"No, the other one."

Cyborg's face grew wary.

"I shouldn't say too much...she was blonde though. Beast Boy has some weird fetish thing for blondes."

Nicole grinned and unconsciously flicked her own yellow hair.

"He's got good taste."

"Pssh, I think he's just looking for someone to match his IQ."

"..."

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

Nicole pouted.

Commisionner Walker leaned back his his chair, let out a relaxed sigh and propped his feet up on his desk. He brought the coffee mug that read 'World's Greatest Dad' on its side up to his lips and-

**BEEP!**

"PSTHTHSH!" Walker spit the hot, brown substance halfway across the room and sloshed some of it on himself. He smashed down the button of the intercom and cursed: "Damn it, what the hell is it, Francine?"

_"There's a Mr. McClay to see you, sir."_

"Well, tell the pansy to screw off! I'm busy drinking coffee right now and _you're interrupting me!"_

_"Sir, he says he has an appointment. Bard of the Teen Titans-"_

"Shit...yeah, yeah. I remember now. I promised Quickdraw McGraw that'd I'd see this bastard, and Mr. Walker never breaks his promises."

_"What about that new coffeemaker you promised me last-"_

"DAMN IT! JUST SEND HIM IN!" He took in a deep breath. "I"m such a bitch..." He sighed.

_"Sir, you have to take your finger off the button."_

"FU-" Was all the secretary heard before the link went dead.

Back in his office, the police commissioner of Jump City muttered:

"What the hell is up with that cowboy bringing me wannabe cops? Shouldn't he be trying to convert people to _religion_, or something?" He looked Tim over when the teen walked in. "You're not so big now, huh?"

"I could grow a foot or two if it would make you feel more comfortable, pops."

Commissioner Walker scowled.

"Just sit down, smart ass. And don't call me pops." He leaned back in his chair and took another sip of coffee. "All right, throw this old dog a bone: Why the hell would you want to be a cop?"

"I just do."

"You got to have a reason, kid."

Tim shrugged his big shoulders.

"Give me _something_, kid! Any kind of reason. How 'bout: 'Because I want to give my ex-girlfriend speeding tickets' or 'I like the idea of taking bribe money from pimps'."

"I like that second one." Tim grinned.

"...Come to think of it, me, too."

"..."

"..."

"Ahem," Walker cleared his throat and went on seriously. "You have to give me reason."

"I just want to be a cop. That's just what I want to do."

"So that's your reason?"

Tim nodded.

"That's my reason."

Walker shrugged and drained the rest of his coffee mug.

"Then go look for a job somewhere else. You'll be better off, believe me."

"But-"

"This job sucks, McClay. The hours are crappy, the pay is laughable and you got a pretty damn good chance at getting shot. You have to have a better reason than 'I want to'. So either give me one or don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out."

"..."

"Well?"

"...All right," Tim finally gave in. He took in a deep breath and said: "I've done some things I ain't proud of and I want to make it up to myself...and to the people who are close to me. I wanna show the world that, ya know...that Tim McClay can actually make a difference in the world for the _better_."

"That's the reason?"

"That's the reason."

"All right, then." Comissioner Walker clapped his hands together and stood up. "C'mon," He threw his arm over Tim's wide shoulders and led him out of the room.

"Where are we goin'?"

Walker threw the big man a shit-eating grin.

"I'm going to introduce you to a woman I _guarantee_ you'll hate within five minutes of meeting her."

Beast Boy loved to fly. Flight is an incredible thing. And not the kind of flight that Bard or Superboy or Starfire were capable of. No, Beast Boy loved the kind of flight you didn't conjure up with thought or music or emotion...but the kind of flight you work for with your very own muscles until you catch a wind current, lock your wings and glide with blissful grace.

The green canary fluttered through the city perhaps twenty feet over street level; far enough above to be clear of danger, but not so far as to feel isolated. Most people, when they have an emotional conflict with their feelings, like to be alone to sort things out for themselves. Not Beast Boy. The green changeling hated to be alone. So he immersed himself into the bubbling, murmuring mass of humanity the city had to offer as he dwelled on his problems.

He had never really dealt with the mixed bag of emotions Terra had instilled inside him. Instead, he had pushed it away and tried to forget by being his happy-go-lucky self; even going so far as avoiding places, such as Terra's old room and the diner, that reminded him of the earth maiden. But it hadn't worked. He could have blamed Kaili's comments during their online conversation for dredging the memories and feelings up, but he decided to be true to himself. They'd been there all along, only masked and hidden and buried.

The problem was the fact that so many emotions her name brought up in him conflicted with each other: Love for the cute girl that giggled so adorably at his jokes. Hatred for the traitor that had turned her back on himself and his friends. Respect for the freedom and independence she exibited. Disgust for her weakness and broken will. It went on and on and on and on...

Beast Boy's flight had unwittingly taken him to the pizza restaurant where Kaili worked. He swooped up and perched on the railing lining the roof. He blinked his canary eyes and watched Kaili smiling at a young couple while laying down a steaming pizza and soda pitcher on their table. Though he had just met her, Beast Boy knew she was a great girl. She was beautiful, sweet, funny, kind, fun...but she wasn't Terra. No one would be Terra except for the earth maiden herself.

It wasn't fair to Kaili: As things stood now, she'd have to be in Terra's shadow, a girl she had never even met. The changeling decided right then and there that he had to put Terra's memory to rest. He couldn't let his emotions cripple him for the rest of his life...and he knew exactly how to do it. With a shrill chirp, he turned, leapt off the guardrail and flew back towards Titans Tower.

BLAM! BLAM! BL-BL-BLAM!

Tim winced as Commissioner Walker led him across the in-door firing range where perhaps half a dozen officers were training with their pistols.

"Loud enough?" The big man wanted to know, trying without much sucess to block out some of the noise.

"What?" Walker cupped his hear.

"...Never mind."

"What?"

"NEVER MIND!"

"WHAT!"

"..."

"Heheheh," Walker snickered. "I was just screwin' with ya that last time."

"What?"

"..."

"..."

Commissioner Walker stopped them at a booth where an officer was discharging a pistol rapidly.

BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BLAM!

Tim looked over the officer's shoulder down the aisle at the sheet that represented a person's upper torso: Three shots dead center in the head and three shots in the middle of the chest.

"Wow," Tim whistled, thouroughly impressed. "That was-" He stopped abrupty when the police officer turned.

It was a woman.

"Meet Officer Britt Sommers." Walker introduced her.

Tim looked her over: Short, dark hair. Green eyes. Olive skin. Subtle curves.

"...How you doin'?"

Officer Sommers squinted at him.

"Aren't you that crazy steroid guy?"

Tim blinked.

"...Believe it or not, I've had worse greetings than that."

"Meet Tim McClay." Walker said to her, indicating Tim. "Your new recruit."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Britt exploded. "Wasn't he just tearing up Main Street a couple months ago? You're gonna give this maniac a GUN and a liscense to use it?"

The commissioner sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Why do you always have to bitch about everything?" He asked plaintively.

Britt shrugged.

"Because I'm a bitch."

"...That was damn good answer." The commissioner admitted.

"I'm glad you liked it." Britt holstered her pistol. "Now go have someone else train him."

"You're the best trainer we have, Sommers. I want him in your hands."

Tim barely had time to smirk before Britt turned on him.

"How many perverted thoughts did you have after hearing that remark?"

Tim blinked, but the police officer had already turned back to Walker.

"Has he even been to police academy?" She wanted to know.

"Hell yeah!" Tim burst out. "I loved those movies!"

Britt stared, opened her mouth-

"Bitchin'!" Walker agreed. "That's the funniest movie I've ever seen! The first scene was frickin' fantastic!"

Britt looked at the two of them, fought the impulse to reach for her gun and sighed.

"Haa!"

WHAM!

"Haa!"

WHAP!

Bard stepped back slowly under Amber's onslaught of punches. He wore two, oversized and padded gloves to catch her attacks. Out of the very corner of his eye, the cowboy saw Robin step into the room. The Boy Wonder said nothing, he simply watched the training in silence with an emotionless face. Amber suddenly stopped, sweating and huffing and puffing.

"Can we take a break?" She wheezed out, leaning against her knees.

"...Not yet." Bard decided, glancing at Robin discreetly. "Give me ten more minutes."

Amber panted, wiped the sweat from her eyes and righted herself again. She drew back-

WHAM! WHAP!

Just then, the double doors slid open again and Beast Boy came into the room.

"Bard," he called to him. "I wanna talk to ya!"

The cowboy deflected one of Amber's punches.

"Now's not the best time, BB. I'm kinda busy."

"Dude, it's important!"

Bard glanced over at the green changeling.

"What so important that-mmmph!"

WHAM!

Amber's fist hit him high on the cheek. Bard stumbled, lost his balance and fell against the blue mat.

"Oh!" Amber brought her hands to her mouth. "Are you okay?"

Bard sat up, rubbing his face.

"...Nice punch. I think you've deserved your break." He turned to Beast Boy, barely registering the fact that Robin was gone. "What's so important?"

"Um...I want you to meet someone."

"Meet who?"

"...Terra."

Some time later, Bard threw away his smoked cigarette as he and Beast Boy crested a hill outside the city that led to a rocky terrace that hung over the ocean. And that's when Bard saw the statue. The sun was setting behind it and created a road of gold over the water that seemed to lead right to it.

The statue was of a girl in some kind of armored suit with her arms held up imploringly to the heavens. Her stance was wide as if she was holding the weight of universe on her shoulders and her hard hair was flailed about. Her wide eyes were determined and, somehow, filled with love. The engraved plaque at her feet read: A Teen Titan, A True Friend.

"So...this is Terra?"

Beast Boy nodded.

"She was the sixth Titan."

Bard looked at the somber elf hesitantly.

"...How did she die?"

"It's a long story. But Terra had mental control over rock and, when she saved the city...this happened to her."

"You mean-"

"This isn't a statue of Terra, dude. This IS Terra."

Beast Boy proceeded to tell him the whole story: How he and the Titans had first met Terra, come to know her. How Terra finally joined the team. With a downcast face he told the cowboy of her betrayal and, finally, of her ultimate redemption. When he was finished, Bard reached out and softly touched Terra's stone cheek.

"...Ya know..." He said it tentatively. "Amber's a healer. Maybe she could..." He left it hanging, but Beast Boy immediately understood.

He looked up at his teammate with an impossible hope in his young eyes.

"Do you really think she could do it?"

"I don't know, BB. I really don't. But's it's worth a try, right?"

"More than anything, it is."

The two of them turned and looked at Terra again. Beast Boy was lost in thought and Bard's eyes fell to the plaque again.

A Teen Titan.

A True Friend.


	83. Final Verse, Part One

_"Don't worry: I think you have plenty of estrogen." - Superboy _

_**CHAPTER EIGHTY THREE  
FINAL VERSE, PART ONE **_

Jump City.

The day had been bright and sunny but, as the sun began to retreat beneath the horizon, the first chill wind of winter started to blow. The wind crunched dry, dying leaves into buildings and cars and whatever else lie in its path until the last promises of summer were nothing but dust. As the last vestiges of sunlight disappeared, Zillah pushed back her hood and wrapped her white cloak tighter around her body. She stood forlorn and alone atop a high skyscraper. With sad eyes, she looked down at what should have been another normal evening in the city. She watched cars and trucks go this way and that along the roads, some of them taking weary souls home after a long day at work for a night of relaxation, and others taking their owners out for a night on the town. Laughing and smiling and flirting teenagers strutted down the streets, talking about the movie they were going to see or who they thought was the most attractive member of the opposite sex.

Everything seemed right in the world for the citizens of Jump City, but Zillah knew better; she could feel it in her bones. The invisible evil laying over the city was heavy, like the air before a large storm. The cold wind that blew not only chilled the skin, but freezingly kissed the soul as well. Zillah closed her violet eyes and sighed.

"...It begins..."

The dark-haired mystic took a crinkling, rolled parchment from the folds of her cloak. She unraveled it and recited:

"When stone begins to melt, it shall be a sign unto thee that the battle doth draw nigh. Nightmares will become reality. Death and darkness shall cover the land. The Accursed One shall arise and evil shall reign supreme, lest the Archangel save us all."

Zillah put the scroll away and turned to gaze upon Titans Tower.

"Our fate lies in your hands, Holy Bard." She whispered with all of her heart. "May God be with you."

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

**WHOOSH! **

With a soft gust of wind and a blur of black, red and blue, Superboy appeared in the main room of Titans Tower, leaning casually against the back of the couch. He reached into the inside chest pocket of his leather jacket and pulled out a pair of red tinted sunglasses.

"Let me guess." He said roguishly, slipping his mirrored shades on to his face. "It's a fire, isn't it? Ever since I came to this city I've yet to deal with a single burning apartment building. You'd be surprised how often those suckers catch on fire in Metropolis."

"This city has stricter fire code laws than Metropolis." Robin explained to him.

Superboy blinked and pushed his sunglasses down his nose to stare at the Boy Wonder.

"_Please_ tell me you were kidding, man." He pleaded with him. "Because if you weren't and you actually _know_ that, I'll have to fry you with my heat vision."

"...There's irony for ya." Raven droned.

Superboy turned and grinned boyishly at her.

"I was actually thinking more along the lines of poetic justice."

"..."

"Heh, all right: Irony it is, cutie."

From his place on the couch, Cyborg looked up at him in shock.

"What?" The Boy of Steel uttered.

**ZAT!**

Black telekinesis knocked him backwards and he landed upside down on the couch beside Cyborg, who smirked wide at him.

"...shut up." Superboy groaned.

Cyborg's smirk grew even wider.

"Ahem," Robin cleared his throat and rubbed his gloved hands together. "Everything is going normally in the city...for now anyway. I called you all here because Beast Boy and Bard have an announcement they want to make. Guys?"

All eyes turned to the aforementioned, mismatched duo.

"We've found a way to bring Terra back to normal!" Beast Boy burst out as if it would kill him to hold in the statement any longer. His answer was an assortment of disbelieving gasps.

"Um...we _might_ have." Bard quickly corrected him. "As ya'll know, Amber's got the power to heal, so BB and I thought-"

"You believe that it would be possible for her to reverse Terra's petrified state?" Starfire asked optimistically.

"I reckon that's the theory, yeah."

Everyone has hopeful eyes...

"It's too dangerous." Robin uttered, his arms folded across his chest and his gaze falling to the floor in concentration.

"But dude-"

"We know nothing of Amber's powers." Robin clarified. "We have no idea what would happen if she unleashed her raw talent on Terra."

"But Robin!" Beast Boy pleaded with him. "Shouldn't we at least let her try?"

"Even if it kills her, Beast Boy?"

"..." The changeling looked submissively down at his feet.

"When we find out exactly how Amber's powers work, we'll have this discussion again." Robin decided. "Until then...Terra will just have to remain in our hearts."

The team meeting broke then and everyone disconsolately separated.

"G-guess it wasn't meant to be..." Beast Boy muttered to Bard before shambling off.

The cowboy watched him go for a moment before Amber came up behind him and snuggled her way underneath his arm.

"Is he going to be all right?" She asked with concern in her voice.

"I don't know..." He shook his head and looked down at her. "Sorry about telling everyone about the plan before running it by you." He apologized. "It's just that Beast Boy was so excited and-"

"It's all right." She paused before asking: "The girl...Terra...what's wrong with her?"

"Don't ask me how but...her body is stone."

"What?"

"T-think getting petrified in Final Fantasy VII."

Amber stared at him.

"It's true." Bard nodded at her. "I saw her myself."

"..." Amber's light blue eyes looked far away, but her boyfriend was oblivious.

"I reckon we have to wait until-"

"I can do it."

"What?"

"I can do it, Jonny." Amber asserted. "I can heal her."

Bard's eyes became dubious.

"Amber..."

"I can do it. I promise."

"Amber-"

"I _promise_."

Their eyes met...

And the crime alarm went off.

Robin skidded into the room almost immediately.

"What's going on?" He demanded.

"Jail break at the State Prison." Cyborg announced, typing at the computer. "Commissioner Walker is already on the way."

"Then so should we. Titans, go!" The Titan leader sprinted out of the room.

"Man...does he ever get tired of saying that?"

**SWOOSH! **

The others followed the Boy of Steel, but Bard caught Beast Boy by the arm as went by.

"Take Amber to Terra."

Beast Boy blinked at him.

"Dude, what?"

"Take Amber to Terra." Bard repeated. "She's gonna heal her. No 'buts'."

"What about Robin? And won't you guys need backup?"

"Let me take care of Robin. It's not like I'm on his favorite person list at the moment anyway. You have to trust me with this." He smirked. "And as for backup...you'll be bringing plenty soon enough."

Beast Boy's grin was immensely grateful.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"Get your ass in gear and take the stick shift outta ya ass!" Commissioner Walker bellowed just as the R-Cycle, the T-Car and Bard's Harley pulled up. "I want a barricade set up! Set the perimeter up five hundred yards out! I don't care if we have to use every man we have to do it, just get it done, damn it! Get to work, numb nuts!"

His subordinate scurried off and Walker turned to Robin and the others.

"What took so frickin' long?" He demanded of them.

"Distance." Robin answered shortly. "What's the situation?"

The police commissioner grunted sourly.

"Prison break. But it's not your run of mill Cinderblock crap: It's an inside job."

"Inside job?"

"If I wanted a echo, I would've talked directly into my ass." He waved his arm irritably in the prison's general direction. "The power's been cut and the backup generators have been damaged. We have no one on the inside to help. We're completely blind. And there's not enough power in the place to run a gigapet."

Cyborg's human eye dilated.

"Dah...a _gigapet_?"

"...Shuddup! My daughter had one when she was younger! Ahem."

"A _GIGAPET_?"

"I said 'ahem', damn it!"

"So," Robin tried to make the conversation rational again. "The prison has no power and has no control over the inmates?"

"There are a few emergency lights still on." Walker told him. "But they're dimmer than Jessica Simpson's IQ."

Everyone stared at him.

"Shit! Holly watches a lot of MTV! Get off my frickin' back!"

Robin turned to his teammates...and studiously ignored that.

"We're going to split up and go in." He said to them. "I'll go in the front with Starfire-"

"I'm shocked." Superboy muttered with a roll of his eyes.

"Superboy and Raven will go in from the east-"

Superboy said nothing.

"And Bard and Cyborg will go in from the West." Robin finished.

The cowboy and the robot looked at each other.

"...Reckon that makes us the testosterone team, huh?"

Cyborg smirked.

"What about Raven and Superboy?"

"Sknnnt-HAHAHAHAH!"

Raven sent a death glare their way and Bard immediately cut off his laughter.

"Um...r-riding-off-to-infilitrate-the-prison-now!" The cowboy drug Cyborg along behind him. Quickly.

When they were gone, Superboy said to Raven:

"Don't worry: I think you have plenty of estrogen."

Raven turned her glare to him.

"...I'll go scout ahead...hehe...babe."

**ZAT! **

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Cyborg's communicator went off just as he and Bard reached the side entrance of the prison. Cyborg knelt down, put a finger to his ear and activated the screen on his arm. Bard hovered just behind him.

"We're in position." Cyborg reported.

"_Good," _Robin approved. "_Your job will be to get the generators back up and running. Can you do that?" _

"Piece of cake."

Robin's face nodded on the screen.

"_Bard,"_ he said then. "_Do you know where Beast Boy is?"_

"Beast Boy?" Bard blinked innocently.

_"He's the green, short Titan who can change into animals."_ Robin said it sarcastically.

"Hehehe." Cyborg snickered. "Robin described someone as 'short'."

"...He's running an errand for me."

"_What is it?" _Robin asked the cowboy.

Bard faltered only slightly.

"Do we really have time for this right now?"

_"...Robin, out." _

The screen went black and Cyborg stood up.

"Where is BB?" He asked curiously.

"He'll be here soon." Bard skirted the issue. "Why did you kneel down to answer the call?"

"...I was having a Solid Snake moment. Let's go."

Once inside, the two Titans found themselves in a long, dark hallway, lit only minimally by orange emergency lights spaced every thirty feet or so.

"Wow," Cyborg whispered as he activated his shoulder light. "I'm having a 'The Suffering' flashback."

"'The Suffering'?" Bard asked, holding up a fireball.

"Um...a dungeon in Final Fantasy VII?"

"_That_ I understand."

They continued down the passageway, their feet splashing in stagnant puddles that formed sporadically on the concrete floor. The flickering shadows made the hallway look smaller than it really is and the cinderblock walls seemed to press in on them.

"So," Bard slowly spun around as he walked to check behind him. "What exactly are we looking for?"

"We'll need to find the control room and the generators themselves." Cyborg answered him. "We should probably split up. I'll find the control room and get it running again and you can find and fix the generators."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Bard stopped him. "'Bout the only thing I can fix is a mistuned guitar. How am I supposed to fix a state of the art generator?"

"All right, you can go to the control room and I'll fix the generators."

"Um...I don't know how to work a prison computer system either, Cy."

Cyborg blinked at the cowboy.

"What _are_ you good for, dawg?"

"...I can punch things really hard."

"All right," Cyborg thought it over. "I'll fix the generator, get the control room working and you...can scout ahead. If you see any bad guys, punch'em really hard."

"That I can do!" Bard winked and trotted down the hallway.

"Cowboys," Cyborg muttered when he was gone. "Why couldn't we have recruited...'Technology Girl', or something?"

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

In the dark corridor leading to the opposite side entrance of the prison, Superboy blindly walked right into Raven's back.

"Hey!" He demanded, collecting himself. "What's the glitch? Why did you stop?"

"...We're not alone." Raven droned.

"Huh?" Superboy looked around. "I don't see anybody?"

Raven shushed him, concentrated and-

"Dah!"

Jinx fell through a black, teleporting hole in the ceiling. She flipped, flipped...and landed in a crouch at the last possible moment.

"Jinx!" Raven hissed. "Are you behind this?"

"Of course not," Jinx smirked. "I'm here for a conjugal visit."

Raven blinked. Superboy, on the other hand...

"HAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

"I don't think I've met Superboy." Jinx purred. "Put Robin's belt and Bard's hat on him and...rowrrrr!"

"...Can we fight now?"

"But I want to flirt some more!" Jinx protested.

"And I want to keep myself from vomiting."

Raven sprinted forward and backhanded Jinx. The witch spun from the blow, leapt off the wall and kicked Raven in the face. She tumbled to the floor. Jinx was just about to verbally assault her...when Superboy easily picked her up by the back of her dress.

"I'd like to see you get a lucky kick in on _me_, sweet cheeks." The Boy of Steel grinned.

"Luck has _everything_ to do with it!"

Jinx smacked him in the face with a hex bolt and, with a charming flirt of the hem of her dress, she scampered away.

"Ugh..." Superboy groaned slowly rising to his feet. "I'm guessing pink glowy stuff qualifies as an energy attack..."

"She's getting away!" Raven snapped at him. "Come on!" She sprinted after her with Superboy flying close behind. "Why don't you use your super speed?"

"In a dark place I don't know?" Superboy scoffed. "I'd break my beak!"

"...Beak?" Raven pants.

"Um...I meant my face."

"...Pity."

They turned a corner into a broad passageway with row upon row of cells on either side. A catwalk laced the large room, leading to upper cells. And Jinx stood in a booth wear the catwalk spanned the room and connected one row of cells to another.

"...Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling?" Superboy gulped.

"Everybody!" Jinx yelled. "Come out and plaaaaay!" She smashed a hex bolt against the control panel and-

**CL-CL-CL-CL-Cl-CLANK! **

-every single cell door slammed open.

"..."

"...Do I have permission to use vulgar language?" Superboy asked.

"I think the situation warrants it."

"...F-"

"-Reely do I admit my anxiety." Starfire said as she and Robin turned a corner to enter the main holding area. "But with you here beside me, Robin, I shall be more than a match against any miscreant."

Robin nodded absently at her, holding his flashlight up.

"Just stay alert, Star."

"WOO!" A random inmate jeers. "Fresh meat, boys!"

Other inmates clapped and whooped.

Robin crossed the room to the man in a surprisingly short amount of time. He reached through the cell bars with his gloved hand and grabbed him by his orange suit.

"Don't you _ever_ talk about Starfire like-"

"Who said I was talking about Starfire?"

"..." Disgusted, Robin thrust him back and turned away.

"You're lucky these bars are between me and you, Bitch Wonder!" The inmate called after him. "'Cause if they weren't, I'd make you my own personal little-"

**CL-CL-CL-CL-CL-CLANK!**

The cell door opened and Robin turned back to him, his cape falling over his shoulders menacingly.

The inmate sweat dropped.

"...Shit."

Amber shakily dismounted from Beast Boy in pterodactyl form, hugging herself tightly.

"I-I think I'll walk back to the tower."

"You don't like flying?" Beast Boy asked her, back in elf form.

"I don't like _falling_."

"Hehehe." Beast Boy chuckled. "That sounds familiar..."

Amber looked ahead.

"Is that..."

"Terra?" Beast Boy finished for her. "Yeah, that's her."

"...What I wouldn't give for a 'soft' right now..."

"What was that?"

"Sorry," Amber blushed. "Obscure video game reference."

Beast Boy beamed at her.

"I _knew_ I liked you!"

Amber smiled shyly.

"Amber...are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes," Amber replied after taking a deep breath. "I can do it. I _know_ I can do it..."

Beast Boy watched on anxiously as Amber walked up and gingerly placed her hands on Terra's petrified form. Amber's head bowed, her brow furrowed in concentration and her hands started to glow gold. Slowly, ever so slowly, the stone began to melt away. Terra's hair flickered from gray to blonde and back again.

"You can do it, Amber!" Beast Boy cheered her on, his heart in his eyes. "Keep trying!"

Amber sweat and strained and sweat and strained...

**WHOOSH! **

An impossibly strong wind threw the two of them back and drove them into the dirt. Brother Blood floated down to land in front of Terra, his enchanted, dark red cloak facing Beast Boy and Amber.

"Ah," he mused. "So this is Terra." He ran a finger across her stone lips and down her gravelly neckline. "The girl who befriended the Titans and pretended to believe in your ideals right up until the moment she stabbed you all in the back."

"Shut up..." Beast Boy growled out from between clenched teeth, rising to his feet.

"Actually," Sebastion continued to speak unperturbed. "She reminds me of myself...except I actually _did_ stab someone in the back. She merely threw rocks at you."

"_Shut up!" _

Brother Blood ignored him.

"What was it that Jesus said? 'Let he who is without sin cast the first stone'? Hahahahah!"

"_SHUT UP_!"

"Beast Boy! No!" Amber yelled at him, but her plea fell upon deaf ears.

Beast Boy morphed into an emerald tiger, ran and pounced at Brother Blood with his fangs bared and his claws outstretched.

"RRRrrraurrrr!"

PHOMB!


	84. Final Verse, Part Two

_"You should have seen me-ugh!-at that nude beach last year!" - Superboy_

_**CHAPTER EIGHTY FOUR  
FINAL VERSE, PART TWO**_

**WHAM!**

The metal, locked door that led into the control room exploded inwardly to reveal Cyborg standing in the doorway, his shoulder light shining.

"Booya..." He said, his tone one of satisfaction. He stepped inside and immediately walked over to the main control panel.

"All right, old girl." Cyborg almost purred to it. "I can't fix you until I get the generators running, but maybe you can show me where they are..." He started typing furiously, trying to bring up the prison's blueprints.

A whistle.

"Huh?" Cyborg turned and his shoulder light revealed Kitten standing up from behind a low control station...and the

EMP bomb she held in her hands. "...Oh, no..."

"Good night, Sparky."

"Don't call me-"

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

**ZRATCCCCTH!**

Bard spun around, squinting his eyes in an attempt to pierce the darkness that the his glowing fireball couldn't quite hold at bay. He walked back the way he came towards the sound.

**CL-CL-CL-CL-CLANK!**

The second sound came from the opposite direction Bard had come from and forced him to stop. He stood there, locked in indecision.

'All right, cowboy...the red pill or the blue pill?'

He jogged down the hallway, following his original path. His decision led him to a vault door at least twice his height.

"Hahahaha!" A British voice laughed from within. "The music of chaos is back!"

'What the hell...? I know I don't want to go in there. I shouldn't go in there.'

He went in there.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"-uck." Superboy finished as he stared in dismay at the dozens of now open cell doors. He looked over a Raven. "Got any good ideas?"

The dark sorceress didn't answer. Instead, her eyes glowed gray She sharply thrust out both of her arms.

**CL-CL-CL-CL-CLANK!**

Black telekinesis slammed shut all the cell doors.

"Yeah!" Superboy cheered. "Awesome!"

But Raven was straining and sweating.

"I can't h-hold this forever..."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Think of something." She growled at him.

"Um..." Superboy looked at the fading black force that kept the doors shut. And then it came to him.

**ZRRRRT!**

Heat vision exploded from his eyes, melting the cell door shut.

"Yes!" Raven yelled her support. "Now do the rest of them. Quickly!"

Superboy went down the line of cells, melting them shut until-

"Hah!" Jinx descended and planted her platform shoe into Superboy's chest. She pivoted and walloped Raven for good measure, breaking her control over the cell doors.

"So..." Jinx gave the two downed titans a huge cat grin. "What was that about a lucky kick?"

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

**SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-WHAP!**

Robin ran forward into a group of escaped prisoners, his metal Bo-staff twirling. He rolled under a clumsy swipe, sprang up, turned in midair and walloped an inmate with a baseball-like swing from his staff. He landed and thrust his weapon blindly behind him into the pit of another inmate's stomach. He spun around, smacking anything within reach.

"Star!" He yelled out. "Now!"

Just as the thugs surrounded him, Starfire swooped down and grabbed his up thrust Bo-staff, lifting him away.

"Ready, Star?" Robin asked her as she arced around and took them back towards the men.

"Affirmative, Robin!"

"Go!"

She flung the Boy Wonder high into the air. While the inmates watched his backflipping form in awe, Starfire had already charged up her star bolts.

"Hah! Hah! Hah!"

**ZAF! ZAF! ZAF! ZAF!**

"Ah, shit!"

"Ack!"

"It burns!"

The inmates scattered and tried to flee from the torrential green energy downpour, but that's when Robin dropped half a dozen explosives right in the middle of their escape route. They exploded just as Robin landed in a crouch from his acrobatics with his cape draped over him, the fire dramatically silhouetting his figure. He stood up swiftly and turned...just in time to see a large figure lumbering towards him through the fire with it's fist drawn back.

**BAM!**

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"By the holy ghost of John Lennon, the sound of chaos lives again!" Bard heard a British voice say as he stepped into the huge vault. He was met with the sight of a pale-skinned, teenage boy with about fifteen too many piercings on him, in the cowboy's humble opinion. The skinny teen also had a shiny, button-covered, sharply angled axe that was a sorry excuse for a guitar.

Bard snapped his fingers sarcastically, drawing the punk's attention.

"Dang," he sighed melodramatically. "I should have brought my guitar! We could have played 'Dueling Banjos', or something!"

"What are you rambling on about, ya blimey bloke? Ya can't play 'Dueling Banjos' on a bloody gui-tawwr!"

"You can't maybe." Bard modestly buffed his fingernails on his jacket. "But I can. I reckon you're not as good as you thought." He paused as he watched the punk's pale face turn red. "By the way," he added. "It's 'gee-_tar'. _Get it straight. If you can't play it, you might as well pronounce it right."

"I'm Punk Rocket!" He squealed in British rage. "The greatest musician in the land! How dare you mess with me? You're gonna regret this!"

"Why?" Bard verbally pushed him. "What are you gonna do? Go to the mall and buy a new dog collar? Or do something _real _manly and play me a song by Elton John? Or Yoko Ono? I bet you do Yoko Ono songs _realllllll_ fine and nice-like!"

"Argh! Feel the sound of chaos!" Punk Rocket sharply brought his hand down over the strings of his guitar.

**BRIIIIINNNNNG!**

The enhanced sound waves tossed Bard across the room and smashed him hard into the opposite wall. Dazed, he slumped down to the floor.

"Hey, cowboy." The rocker sneered. "Guess what: Hank Williams didn't really write all of his songs."

Bard's eyes went wide and then turned flat behind his darkened glasses.

_"OH HELL NO!"_

**SWOOSH!**

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Superboy threw out a left jab and followed it with a right uppercut. He even tried a few, low, manly kicks, but it was no use: Jinx dodged them all, all the while grinning her fool head off.

"I can't-take this!-hit her, Raven! She's too fast!"

"Use your superspeed!" She suggested, her fingers brought to her temples as she summoned up black energy.

"I can't!" Superboy threw over his shoulder as Jinx ducked another kick. "If I mess it up, I could knock her head right off her shoulders!"

Raven blinked at him.

"...And the downside is...?"

"Ya know," Jinx smiled at him as she continued her elusive ways. "You're cute when you're frustrated."

"You should have seen me-ugh!-at that nude beach last year!"

Jinx hesitated...and Superboy caught her with a short jab.

**BAM!**

Jinx was thrown across the large room and Superboy flew off after her. Meanwhile, Raven was holding off the two dozen or so inmates who had escaped from their cells with telekinetic shields...but she was weakening. Finally, one of the burlier thugs smashed through her black shield like it was glass and grabbed her by the neck from behind.

"Hey boys," he said to his buddies as Raven kicked futilely. "Anyone ever laid a titan bitch?"

"Any of you ever been castrated by obsidian telekinesis?" She shot back, still struggling.

"She's bluffing, man!" An inmate said.

"She'd would have done it already." Wheezed another one. "Let's do it!"

_"SUPERBOY!"_

The Boy of Steel froze. He was holding Jinx up off the ground with one hand and had the other drawn back in a fist.

"What's it gonna be, lover boy?" Jinx purred at him. "Me or Raven? You can't have us both."

Superboy tossed her to the floor.

"I don't want your skanky, flat-chested self anyway. Call me in two years, sweet cheeks."

**SWOOSH!**

When Superboy got there, the inmates had already torn away Raven's cloak.

"Whoa, look at the body on her!"

"Been there, done that." Superboy answered him.

Two dozen heads craned to look at him. And two dozen sweatdrops hit the floor.

**SM-SM-SM-SM-SM-SM-SM-SMACK!**

Superboy bitchslapped each and every one of them to the ground before picking them up and chucking them into empty cells...HARD. He took his time melting the doors shut, and the inmates didn't complain a single bit. When he was finished, he turned to Raven, who was wrapping her tattered cloak back around herself.

"So," he beamed. "I'm, like, twenty times more attractive to you now, right?"

"...Don't rub it in...and thanks." She looked down the corridor. "Don't get full of yourself now, we still have to catch Jinx." The side of her lip turned up ever so slightly. "After that, I may tell you just how sexy you are, Superboy."  
The Boy of Steel's eyes bugged out of his head.

_"REALLY?"_

"...no. Not really."

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

The moon had begun to rise above the watery horizon. Terra, with frozen, unseeing eyes, saw Amber cringing in horror and Beast Boy battling Brother Blood.

"Rrrawwr!" Beast Boy leapt at him in tiger form, but the villain answered with a flaming fireball to the face.

**PHOMB!**

Beast Boy rolled limply across the dirt, changing back to his normal self.

"You're pathetic." Brother Blood sneered as he stalked towards him. "No wonder Terra left you."

He aimed a kick at the changeling's side, but Beast Boy was ready. He morphed into a boa constrictor and slithered up Brother Blood's leg and, trapping his arms, squeezed his torso in a viselike grip.

"Rrrrgh!" Brother Blood strained to free himself. "Get off of me!"

Beast Boy only squeezed harder.

Brother Blood looked down at the green snake, narrowed his eyes and shot a lightning bolt out of them. Beast Boy was flung away, but he was able to morph into an electric eel to absorb most of the electricity. He skidded to a stop in his own form.

"I didn't know Bard could do that." He panted mostly to himself.

"Bard doesn't deserve his power." Brother Blood sniffed. He brought an unconscious hand to his ribs. "And I didn't know you were this strong. Terra must have been REALLY talented to take you and the rest of the Titans down in a single day."

_"SHUT UP!"_ Beast Boy morphed into a veloceraptor and advanced again.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

He sat in the darkness in the corner of his maximum security cell. Instead of old-fashioned, metal bars, he was imprisoned by glowing and pulsating yellow energy beams. He personally preferred metal bars: At least they didn't buzz incessantly like blasted insects. The sound broke his concentration, and that's all he had to keep him entertained for the next fifty or so years.

He had been foiled...by _kids_. He'd had a long, successful criminal career and had never been in a prison of any kind...until he set foot in Jump City. Damn Americans and their superheroes. He'd dealt with a few metahumans in Russia...but in the end, he had been taken down by a blasted _child_ with no special powers at all! How? His legacy of death would end with him behinds bars, either dying of old age or by the hand of an idiotic democracy of a government if they decided to speed things along.

The inmate noticed it immediately when that damned buzzing disappeared...along with the rods of energy that kept him contained. He stood up quickly and found himself at gunpoint by a blonde teenager that couldn't have been more than sixteen years old.

"Out of my way, girl." He growled at her.

"I have you at gunpoint." She replied evenly. "You're supposed to do what I say."

"What's to stop me from taking that laser rifle from you and decorating the wall behind you with your pretty brains?"

The girl actually smiled.

"If what my master says is true, absolutely nothing is stopping you. I was sent here to free you and offer you a job."

"Who's the employer?"

"Slade," Kitten answered.

Crimson Wolf grinned sadistically.

"Tell me more..."

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

**SWOOSH!**

Bard rocketed across the room via his wind song and plowed headlong into Punk Rocket. The two guitarists smashed through criminal belongings and paraphernalia before smacking against the far wall of the large vault. Punk Rocket kicked the cowboy off and arced his guitar at his head, but Bard ducked and clipped him in the jaw with a right roundhouse punch.

**SMACK!**

Punk Rocket slid across the floor face down.

"Now," Bard stepped towards him. "Unless you're ready to go back to your cell and play _real_ music like, say...'Rainy Day in June' or 'Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy', (which _you_ shouldn't do, by the way), I'm gonna have to keep whoopin' ya."

Punk Rocket crawled weakly across the floor and grasped the first weapon he could find: A trident. He spun over to his back and pointed it up at Bard.

"Whoop this!"

**ZAAAAAP!**

An energy beam erupted from the weapon's tip and smashed into Bard's hastily made ice shield. The force of the attack sent him skidding back on the heels of his cowboy boots. He unclenched himself and looked up just in time to see the trident's business end being stabbed at him.

**CHING!**

Bard moved out of the way just in time and the trident imbedded itself in the wall. Punk Rocket tried to dislodge it, but Bard would have none of it. He reared back his boot and mercilessly kicked the rocker in the groin. While Punk Rocket bent over and clutched at himself, Bard wrapped his hands around the base of the stuck trident and pulled back. And back. And back. Then he measured mentally...and let go.

**WHAP!**

The handle of the trident leap forward and struck Punk Rocket upside the head. Once again the rocker was down.

"You ready to go quietly and proclaim Hank Williams as the king of ALL music?"

"Never, Yank!" Punk Rocket grabbed the object nearest him: A button covered piece of metal that looked a bit like a string puppet controller.

Meanwhile, Bard was raging:

"I _KNOW_ you didn't just call me-"

Punk Rocket hit the button and the world turned blurry for both of them.

"-a Yan...kee?" Bard brought his hands to his throat, his now uncovered eyes bulging in horror. "Oh, my God!" He screeched. "I have a British accent!"

"What are blubbering on a...bout?" Punk Rocket clutched his own throat. "Bloody hell! I have a southern accent!"

The two looked at each other and burst out simultaneously:

"You're in my body!"

'Bard' frowned.

"How can you stand having this much bloody hair?"

'Punk Rocket' crinkled his nose.

"When's the last cotton pickin' time you had a bath?"

"Um..." Bard sweat dropped. "Reckon you can...ya know...push the button again now?"

"...Gladly."

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

**BAM!**

Robin ragdolled bonelessly across the large corridor lined with jail cells, knowing that he was cut off from Starfire by the fire from his own explosives. He somehow landed in a slide on his feet, but he held his ribs with a gloved hand, his face grimacing.

"I told you Bane would crush you, Birdie..." The big man uttered as he stomped forward. "Batman's heart dies tonight!"

Robin struggled to stand up straight.

"Come and try it, freak!" He yelled defiantly, discreetly pressing a button on his communicator...

Bane actually hesitated.

"You cannot defeat me! I am Bane!" Insane spittle flew from his mouth. "Even Batman must use trickery to match Bane's strength!"

"Yeah, well," Robin fell into a Kung-Fu stance. "I'm not Batman."

"Hrrauauauauaghghghgh!" Bane charged.

Robin ran sideways up the wall, pushed off and vaulted over the huge villain. In midair, he flung a bolo at Bane's feet. The gadget wrapped around his ankles and forced him to the ground like a falling tree.

"Hmph," Bane grunted in disdain. He reached down and negligently ripped the cords that bound his feet. "You think you can fight me with children's toys?"

Robin simply went stony-faced and motioned him to come on with his gloved fingers. He ducked the first punch, leapt over the second and planted his feet into Bane's masked face. He vaulted off, backflipped and landed in a crouch even as Bane was charging him once more. Robin tried to jump over him again, but Bane reached up and grabbed him by his cape. He flexed to smash him with bone-shattering force into the floor, but Robin unclasped his cape at the last second and swung up to the second floor catwalk via a grappling hook.

"Come down and fight me!" Bane bellowed.

"Hey, Bane." Robin called down at him with a smirk, perching on the railing. "Keep your eye on the birdy..."

The villain tilted his head confusedly to the side.

"Huh?"

**KAAAASMASSHHHHH!**

TTTTTT

Commissioner Walker paced back and forth in front of the ring of police cars.

"What's taking the brats so frickin' long?" He demanded to everyone and no one in particular. "I could be doing something a _little_ more fun right now, damn it. Like taking a prostate exam or sticking my decker into an electric pencil sharpener."

A random officer blinked at him.

"Don't you mean 'peck-"

_KASMASH!_

It was muffled, but everyone easily heard it.

"What the hell is that?"

**KASMASH!**

_**KASMASH!**_

_**KASMASH!**_

Bane smashed back first through the outer wall of the prison with Superboy's streaking shoulder buried in his gut. The Boy of Steel suddenly stopped and Bane arced and smashed into the roof of a police car...right beside the commissioner.

"HOLY SHIT!"

Bane's only response was a guttural groan.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the complex, three shadowy figures slipped by the hastily made barricade and disappeared into the forest.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

**WHAM!**

Bard buried his fist into Punk Rocket's gut and the rocker with a swing of his guitar.

**WHACK!**

Bard slid across the room...right into a guitar.

"Whoa!" Punk Rocket gasped. "Teh blimey blokes took both me guitars!"

Bard stood up with it in tow, panting.

"All right...let's settle this like true guitarists." He suggested. "You play that one, and I'll play this one. The first one to fall loses. Deal?"

"Ha! I'm the greatest musician in the land! You can't beat me."

"I reckon we'll find out in a minute, huh?" Bard smirked, righting his guitar. "GO!"

**BRINNNNNNG!**

**BRINNNNNNG!**

The sound waves collided in the middle of the room, the two forces vibrating. The rocker and the cowboy sweat and strained as they played faster.

**BRI-BRI-BRI-BRI-BRINNNNNNG!**

**BRI-BRI-BRI-BRI-BRINNNNNNG!**

The air was absolutely filled with sound energy. Villainous objects rose and shook and vibrated in the air around them. The two were evenly matched...until Bard started to pick lightning fast.

**BOOOOM!**

Bard's sound waves broke through Punk Rocket's and drove him into the ground. The villain stared up at Bard disbelievingly.

"H-h-how did you-"

"It's called 'Free Bird'." The cowboy winked at him. "You should have plenty of time to learn itonce I toss your scrawny ass back in a cell."


	85. Final Verse, Part Three

_"And that battle cannot happen unless...a sacrifice is made." - Zillah_

_**CHAPTER EIGHTY FIVE  
FINAL VERSE, PART THREE**_

The green velociraptor's slathering, gleaming, razor sharp teeth slammed shut like bear trap where Brother Blood's head had been just a moment before. Using Robin's agility, Sebastion flipped out of the way, but he couldn't avoid the dinosaur's whipping tail.

**THWACK!**

Brother Blood was flung head over heels, but he somehow dug a hand into the dirt, stopped his momentum and regained his footing just before the cliff edge. He looked up-

"Graughghgh!"

**SWOOSH!**

Brother Blood shot up on a gust of wind just before the huge gorilla smashed down at him with two meaty, muscled arms. The ground broke away from the giant primate's punishment and weight.

"_BEAST BOY_!" Amber screamed.

He fell.

Brother Blood hovered over on a wind current to the new cliff edge and looked down.

**SCKRIIII!**

A green falcon swooped up and clawed at his face.

"Augh!" Brother Blood managed to wrap a hand around its feathery body.

**CHIIING!**

The bird fell to the ground, encased in translucent, gleaming ice.

"..."

Amber and Brother Blood stared as the ice shook ever so slightly...

**GNIIIHC!**

Ice exploded in all direction as Beast Boy morphed into an elephant. He went back to normal form just as quickly to face off against Brother Blood.

But the taunting villain was gone.

"Dude, where-"

"Beast Boy!" Amber pointed frantically. "Look out!"

The changeling turned just in time to see Brother Blood performing Robin's signature flying back kick.

**WHAM!**

Beast Boy sprawled forward from the tremendous force of the impact and his communicator was unobtrusively flung from his belt. He looked up and saw Terra and Amber standing side by side: One stone and one petrified with fear.

Then blackness overtook him.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Police and prison staff rushed into the state complex as the Titans plodded out.

"Ugh..." Cyborg groaned, rubbing his titanium head. "I feel like a X-Box online."

"Are you sure you're all right?" Bard asked him.

"Yeah, dawg. I was able to shut myself down before Kitten set off the EMP bomb, so my circuits aren't fried. And your shock refilled my energy reserve. I'll be as good as new in a few minutes. It just takes a while for all my programs to come up, if you know what I mean."

"Um..." The cowboy blinked. "How 'bout I pretend I do?"

"Hehehe, frosty." Cyborg smirked. "I'll tell you about Windows some other time."

Bard eyebrows furrowed.

"What do windows have to do with-"

Commissioner Walker stormed up to them then, his brown coat flapping against his ankles and his tie in disarray.

"What took you so god damned long?"

"..." The Titans started at him as a collective whole.

"...I'm being a bitch, aren't I?" He shook his head. "But I gotta right to be! Not only did all of this shit happen, but John

Travolta here damn near kills me with Bane's fat ass!"

Superboy stared.

"John Travolta?" He repeated.

"Damn, boy!" Walker half yelled. "Haven't you ever seen 'Grease'?"

"The guy from Lethal Weapon?"

"...Damn it, never mind."

An officer scurried up to them, beckoned Walker over and spoke lowly to him.

"What?" Walker exploded as he listened. "_WHO?"_

The officer whispered to him.

"...Then get to work, anus licker! Go find him! Get every man who can stand up, see lighting, hear thunder and smell shit and find him!"

"Yes, sir!" The officer trotted off.

"Commissioner," Robin stepped towards him, his voice concerned. "What is it?"

Walker ignored him, walked over to the wall and leaned against it disconsolately, staring at the ground.

"Just go ahead and take me now." He muttered. "A heart attack should do it. I miss Lucy, anyway..."

"...Commissioner?" It was Starfire this time, sounding doubly concerned.

Walker grunted brusquely and stood up straight.

"Don't mind me, Starlet. I'm just being a damn pansy." He turned to look Robin in the eye. "An inmate escaped from a maximum security cell...Crimson Wolf."

Silence.

"...EMP bombs don't sound quite so bad now." Cyborg groaned.

"Jinx and Kitten cited all of this." Raven pointed out. "And Crimson Wolf was the only prisoner that escaped..."

"Urg..." Bard reached under his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "I don't even wanna _think_ about the implications of that..."

"He couldn't have gone far." Robin decided. "It's at least twenty miles to the city. If we can find him before-"

"The prick is probably in the city by now." Commissioner Walker said reluctantly. "Not only did he get by the damn barricade, but he somehow stole a god damn patrol car while he was at it!"

Bard kicked the ground with his cowboy boot.

"Shi-" He was interrupted by a frenzied beeping from their communicators. "What is that?"

Cyborg looked at the screen on his forearm.

"It's the emergency signal from BB's communicator."

Robin whirled on Bard.

"Where exactly did you-"

But it was too late: The cowboy was already airborne.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Using the wind song, Bard flew through the cold night air. One hand firmly held his cowboy hat in place and the other was thrust out before in a, though subconscious, fairly bad impression of Superman.

**ZHHHHHT!**

The cowboy suddenly found himself lying face first on the ground. He blinked and stood up, realizing he was on a rooftop.

"What the he-"

"You might not wish to utter that last word, Holy Bard."

Bard whirled around.

"Zillah?"

"Why must you be so surprised and apprehensive whenever you see me, Holy Bard?"

"...Sorry," he muttered and half-tipped his hat. "But I got a feeling I have a right to be this time." He paused, steeling himself. "Amber's in trouble, ain't she?"

"..." Zillah looked away.

"Then I gotta go. I'm happy to see you and all, I really am, but we can shoot the breeze later."

He took two running strides and leapt up on an invisible pillar of wind...

**ZHHHHHT!**

...and found himself back on the roof.

"Zillah!" He barked at her after he had reoriented himself. "What are you doing?"

"..I won not let you leave." She refused to look at him.

"What?" Bard demanded sharply.

"I _cannot_ let you leave..."

"Listen to me!" Bard stepped forward, his fists clenched passionately. "Amber's in danger and there's no way in-"

"Again, I would not say that, Holy Bard."

"I don't care!" In a fit of rage, he grabbed her by the front of her cloak and forcibly backed the petite mystic into a large air conditioning unit.

**CLANK!**

"Let me go!"

Though Zillah still refused to look at him, she was nonplused.

"The ultimate battle is upon us, Holy Bard."

**CLANK!**

"Let me go!"

"And that battle cannot happen unless...a sacrifice is made."

Bard stared at her incredulously.

"_WHAT?_ Are you saying that Amber..." He shook his head and grabber her tighter. "Are you saying Trigon can't fight me unless there's a sacrifice?"

"Then _why_?" Bard shook her. "Why would you let-"

"...You'll understand in time. Do what you want with me, but the prophecy must be fulfilled."

Bard closed his eyes and let out a slow, shuddering sigh.

"I'm gonna go help Amber now. If you try to stop me..." He left it hanging menacingly before he released her, turned and once again took the sky.

When he was gone, Zillah sank to the ground and leaned against the cold metal of the air conditioner unit. She brought her knees to her chest, wrapped herself up in her cloak and cried inconsolably.

Utterly alone.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"Titans, we need to spread out through the city." Robin told them, extending his gloved hand with his fingers spread out for emphasis. "It's imperative we take him back into custody. You all know how dangerous and destructive he can be-"

"We know, man." Cyborg nodded somberly. "We've seen it."

Raven's eyes were downcast and Superboy looked away.

"...Right," Robin finally replied. "Split up. If you see Crimson Wolf, report to me _immediately_."

The Boy Wonder stopped Superboy before he could blur off.

"I want you to go check on Bard and Beast Boy. Use your communicator to track them."

**POW-SWISSSSSH!**

The Titan leader swooped away via grappling hook.

The air seemed colder above the rooftops, making goosepimples emerge from the meager amount of skin Robin's outfit exposed and the problems in his head were swirling just like the cold wind around him.

He and Bard were certainly not on the same page. Ever since the cowboy had dragged Starfire on his impromptu journey to the South, things had been less than congenial between them. He _knew_ the inclusion of Tim and Amber into the tower would cause problems, but he had allowed it anyway out of friendship for Bard. And as a result, it has only driven them apart. And now the cowboy had directly and deliberately disobeyed him and had somehow talked Beast Boy and Amber into trying to revive Terra...despite the consequences.

Bard's strongest weapon was also his greatest weakness: His faith. It gave him the will and resolve to fight the good fight. But, at the same time, someone who truly believes everything will always work out in the end isn't a very good decision maker. Bard has presumably told Amber to heal Terra, shrugged it off and put it in 'God's hands'. Robin didn't trust any hands but his own.

The Boy Wonder was pulled out of his thoughts by the strange, prickly feeling of being watched. He arced out far on his grappling line, let go and flipped to his feet to land in an alleyway.

"It took a long time for you to notice me." The Ravager told him, emerging from the shadows.

Robin shook his head.

"I have a lot on my mind."

"Crimson Wolf, right?"

Robin did a double take.

"How did you know about that?"

"The police are scurrying around as if they're on fire." She tilted her head. "Besides, I'm privy to information that doesn't reach you."

"What kind of information?"

"The kind you can't get." Ravager told him. "The criminal community doesn't confide in you, for some reason." She added dryly.

"And it confides in you?"

"I'm very...persuasive." Her hand, unconsciously it seemed, strayed to the hilt of her rapier.  
Robin noticed immediately, but didn't comment on it.

"Why did you flag me down?" He asked instead.

"I want to take you up on your offer." Ravager replied, moving close. "I want to be a Titan."

Robin fidgeted.

"W-why the change of heart?"

"Because tonight is when Slade sets his plans into motion. I want to stop him."

"...You want to kill him." Robin corrected.

"..." The Ravager said nothing.

"...You have information on what Slade's planning?"

She nodded and Robin lead her out of the alleyway to the street. He pulled out his communicator...but stopped when he noticed some wide screen televisions sitting in a storefront next to them.

The televisions flickered and the monitors that were showing a sitcom were now streaming a close-up of Slade's face.

_"Hello, Titans. If you're watching this, it's obvious that you survived the prison riot I incited. However, I didn't stage the prison riot for my own amusement, Titans. I sent Jinx and Kitten to the prison to do one thing and one thing alone: Free Crimson Wolf. Everything else was simply for entertainment on their part, you understand. You see, Titans, Crimson Wolf is a man in possession of incredible talent; a gift, if you will. He is a master craftsman...and his crafts are fear and mass homicide. Manipulation and death is his masterpiece...and I've given him permission to paint it. He will continue to perform his art until my demands are met. And my demands are..." _

Slade stopped his monologue. Though his one-eyed mask hid his face, many who watched the telecast would swear that the villain was smiling.

KABOOOOM!

The televisions went black and the entire city was thrust into darkness.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Bard was yelling before he even touched down on the gravelly bluff that served as Terra's home.

"Amber!"

He landed, took three steps and called out again.

"_Amber!"_

"...Ugnnnnn..."

"Amber?" The cowboy spun around.

But Bard was wrong: It was Beast Boy, lying in a fleshy green heap ten yards away from the petrified Terra. Bard quickly looked around one last time before trotting over and kneeling down next to him.

"Beast Boy, where's Amber?"

"Urh..." The changeling's eyes were dull and glazed when he blinked them open. "L-love you...too."

"Beast Boy!" Bard said louder this time, shaking him. "Where's Amber?"

Beast Boy shook away his grogginess and looked around.

"She was right here." He explained slowly. "But..."

"But what?" Bard demanded, shaking him again. "What happened? Spit it out!"

Beast Boy rubbed the back of his head and stood up.

**SWOOSH!**

"Hey, guys! Robin told me to-"

"Not now!" Bard almost snapped at him. He turned back to Beast Boy, his face anxious. "What happened?"  
"Amber was healing Terra, dude...and it was working! But Brother Blood jumped us."

"Brother Blood?"

Beast Boy nodded.

"I tried to fight him off but...he's got your powers and Robin's...buttkickingness!"

"But where is _AMBER_?" Bard pleaded with burning eyes.

"I don't know! I blacked out and..." He didn't need to finish.

Bard let out the strained mutter:

"Where could she be...?"

Superboy, however, was standing at the cliff edge, looking somberly at the ocean below.

"NO!" Bard raged when he saw him. "She didn't! She didn't...didn't..." He fell to his knees breathing hard. Loose strands of hair fought free from his black hair tie to swoop into his anguished face.

"Bard..." Superboy started, but he ws interrupted by his ringing communicator.

_"Superboy,"_ Robin said when he answered it. _"I need you all back at the tower ASAP. We have a situation."_

"But-"

"Robin, out."

Superboy looked up again.

"Bard..."

"Go on without me." The cowboy spit out without moving a muscle.

"But, dude.."

"Do it, damnit!"

Superboy and Beast Boy looked sorrowfully at each other, finally nodded and headed back to the tower. When they were gone, Bard finally broke down and wept.

Unnoticed, a single tear formed in Terra's stone eye, rolled down her hard cheek and was absorbed into the dirt beneath her.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Cheering chants and raucously yelled encouragement filled the JCPD headquarters. Sweating and straining, Tim and Robbie sat across from each other at a desk...arm wrestling.

"C'mon, baby!" Nicole cheered her man on. "You can do it!"

"Forget that." Officer Murphy said to Robbie. "I've got twenty bucks on you, man. If you win, I'll give you thirty-five percent of it. You know how much that is, right?"

"Urgh!" Robbie laboriously forced out between his gritted teeth. "D-don't...confuse me...with m-math...r-right now..."

"Tim is going to win." Yochim stated calmly, his hands clasped loosely behind his back.

"No way!" Murphy insisted. "You already won twenty bucks from me at the shooting range! Now it's time for me to win it back."

"Arm wrestling is a waste of space." Officer Casey stated as he watched the struggle with bored eyes.

"Everything is a waste of space to you, Casey." Britt Sommers told him. "Next thing you know, you'll be saying that space is a waste."

"Anyway," she directed at Tim and Robbie. "Hurry up and finish so we can get back to work."

"What work?" Murphy wanted to know. "Everyone is out looking for Crimson Wolf ever since he sent the power plant sky high. We're just here to hold down the fort."

"Fine," Britt sighed dramatically. "Hurry up and finish so we can get back to PRETENDING like we're working."

Meanwhile, Robbie had forced Tim's hand dangerously close to the desktop. Murphy's body was as taut as a guitar string as he watched. The exact opposite, despite the fact that his man was losing, Yochim was calm and confident.

"Haah!" With a sudden surge of strength, Tim turned the tables and slammed Robbie's hand down on the desk.

Looking dejectedly at his feet, Murphy blindly handed Yochim a twenty dollar bill. Robbie stared at Tim in disbelief for a moment as he leaned back and rubbed his sore hand, but then he nodded to himself and stood up with his hand outstretched.

"Good match," he said, the soul of good sportsmanship. "I look forward to the rematch."

"Damn skippy." Tim agreed. He stood up, reached out his hand and...

Robbie blinked.

"Um...I don't remember you being this tall..."

Tim laughed nervously and tugged at his beard.

"He cheated!" Murphy exploded. "He used his powers to-"

"Grow?" Yochim finished for him calmly. "Since when was growing during an arm wrestling match considered cheating?"

Murphy stared at him.

"...Tch, fine." He finally gave in. "But you better leave me some serious cash in your will!"

"What makes you think I'm going to die before you?"

"Want to bet on it?"

"_HELL NO_!"

Yochim smiled.

"All right," Britt declared. "Back to work. If Commissioner Walker came in and saw us goofing around, he'd cuss us out."

"As opposed to coming in and cussing us out for working dutifully like good little moombas in Final Fantasy VIII?" Officer Casey smirked.

"I think someone's up front, ya'll." Tim said then.

"I'll check it out." Murphy volunteered.

He started walking towards the front entrance and called ahead good-naturedly:

"There's a bell on the counter there for a good reason, ya know. And if this is about your power being off, you came to the wrong place because-"

**BLAM!**

Murphy's body suddenly ragdolled back towards them and Yochim crouched and caught him in a half-cradle.

"Murphy!"

"Heh," he struggled to force out. "G-good thing...I didn't t-take...that bet...h-huh?"

"Murphy..."

"You've been...a good friend, man. I...mean that."

"Murphy..."

"And...tell my wife that-"

"Murphy!" Yochim snapped at him.

"What?"

"You're wearing your bulletproof vest..."

"..." Murphy looked down at himself. He blinked. "By holy Allah's panties, I am!"

It was Yochim's turn to blink.

"I thought you were Catholic?"

"Well-"

**BLAM! BLAM! RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!**


	86. Final Verse, Part Four

_"Besides, when the sun rises tomorrow, it will no longer matter. If I find my curiosity is insatiable, I'll peel the eyemask off of his corpse." - Slade_

_**CHAPTER EIGHTY SIX  
FINAL VERSE, PART FOUR **_

**DRIP! DRIP! DRIP! **

Bard walked down the narrow, rocky passageway holding an apple-sized fireball over his head to illuminate his path. The flame pushed back the darkness and forced shadows to dance before him. The dripping water was as montonous as it had been the last time he was here, seeming to make time crawl as it measured it ever so slowly.

**DRIP! DRIP! DRIP! **

The worst part of it all was that it gave Bard entirely too much time to think, with logics and fears and emotions tumbling over each other in a chaotic, incomprehensible mess. Zillah...Amber...Crimson Wolf...cross pendant...ultimate battle...sacrifice...Trigon...Brother Blood...

The cowboy was somewhere between heartbroken and unbelievably angry. And anger won at the moment.

_"BROTHER BLOOD!"_ He screamed at the top of his lungs. His only reply was slowed, liquefied time and the haunting sound of his echo coming back to him.

**BLOOD...BLOOD...BLOOD...BLOOD... **

Amber's beautiful, trusting face suddenly appeared before him in his mind's eye as that echo assaulted him mercilessly.

"ARGH!" Bard pivoted and slammed his fireball as hard as he could into the rock wall of the narrow cave.

**BOOM! **

Luckily, the cave was stable at that point and dust and pebbles was all that rained down upon him. He stood there in the sudden darkness, leaning against the wall, panting; sniffing back tears. Suddenly, he snarled, stood erect and made another fireball.

"I'M COMING FOR YOU!" He screamed again. "DO YOU HEAR ME, SEBASTION? _I'M COMING FOR YOU!" _

Under his breath, in a whisper, he added:

"And may God help me when I do..."

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

**SWISH! **

"All right, guys!" Cyborg announced with a self-satisfied smirk as he stepped into the main room. "The generators for the tower are all online and running."

"Good," Robin nodded his approval at him before turning to face the rest of the assembled Titans. "This is the Ravager." He introduced her. "She's an excellent martial artist and she's agreed to help us track down Crimson Wolf and Slade."

"Especially Slade." The swordswoman voiced under her breath.

Robin looked around then and blinked.

"Where's-"

"Bard?" Raven finished for him, looking around as well.

Superboy looked away, so Beast Boy was forced to step forward.

"When you guys went to the prison, me and Amber snuck off to bring Terra back." He admitted, incapable of bringing himself to look at them. "And it was working, too." He continued. "But then, Brother Blood showed up out of nowhere! He said some bad things about Terra and I k-kinda lost control. We fought and I held him off for a while, but then he cleaned my clock with Robin's super flying back kick of doom thingy. When I woke up, Bard was there...and Amber was gone. We're not sure, but we think Brother Blood..." He refused to say it, but the implication was there.

Starfire gasped.

"Friend Amber was..." Her lower lip quivered and her eyes filled.

Raven held herself and shuddered, but no one noticed.

"We don't know that for sure, Star." Robin told her. Reluctantly, he added: "And as heartless as it sounds, we don't have time to search or even grieve for her. The city is in extreme danger. Crimson Wolf-"

"Crimson Wolf is the least of our worriers." The Ravager stated. "He is merely Slade's pawn; a catalyst at best."

"We understand that Slade is the one orchestrating all of this." Robin replied to her. "But, at the moment, Crimson Wolf is the greater danger to the city."

"We beat down Crimson Wolf and _then_ go after Slade." Cyborg clarified.

"You misunderstand." She pursed her pink lips and looked at Robin curiously. "Tell me, didn't you ever ask yourself _why _Slade was in the South?"

"He was following Bard and Starfire." Robin shrugged.

"What could Slade have ever accomplished by doing that?"

"..."

"No, Slade wasn't there because of any of us. That was merely a coincidence...Or Fate, if you ask that white-robed girl. Either way, Slade was there for one reason and one reason alone: To-"

"Rally his troops..." Robin finished for her, the slits of his eye mask going wide with shock and realization.

"What are you talking about, man?" Superboy wanted to know. "Slade doesn't have an army!"

"Think about it:" Robin explained to him. "Bard knew Slade because he was the figure head of the street gang he belonged to in his hometown. And haven't you ever noticed that the local gangs here always seem to cause trouble when Slade is planning something?"

"So what?" Beast Boy asked, unable to connect the dots. "What does that mean?"

"It means Slade controls the street gangs here and the gang one hundred miles to the South..." Raven droned.

"And possibly all the gangs in-between." Robin went on. "An army."

Everyone absorbed that silently.

"All right," Robin finally decided, cutting his arm through the air. "Crimson Wolf, Slade and this gang army are all threats we have to deal with."

"What about Brother Blood?" Beast Boy asked.

"...I have a feeling Bard is taking care of that." Robin told him. "Now, The Ravager and I will search for Slade. I want the rest of you to patrol the city. Let us know the moment you see Crimson Wolf or any sign at all of this army, got it?"

"R-Robin," Starfire stopped him before he could lead them out. "This...stranger may not possess enough prowess to help you subdue Slade. Perhaps you would benefit if I-"

"No, Star, the Ravager and I will be fine. With your bird's eye view, you'll be a lot more effective in tracking down Crimson Wolf."

He turned away and lead the Ravager out of the room before Starfire could voice any more objections, leaving the girl standing alone.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

**BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT! **

"Everybody get down and take cover!" Officer Britt Sommers barked over the ear-blazing gunfire, hiding behind a long, chest-high file cabinet.

"W-working on it!" Yochim yelled back, dragging Murphy across the floor with debris exploding around them.

"Is he hurt?" Officer Casey called over from his sheltered place beside Britt.

Yochim finally got himself and Murphy behind the metal file cabinets.

"He'll be all right." He told Casey. "He has a few shotgun pellets in his shoulder, but it's just a flesh wound."

Casey looked at him and opened his mouth-

**BLAM! KACHINK! **

Wood splinters exploded around his head as a bullet ate into his cover. He ducked down lower as he checked his pistol.

Meanwhile, Tim and Nicole were stuck behind the desk that had recently been used as an arm wrestling table...or what was left of it since it seemed to be the main target of enemy fire. Tim laid his large body over Nicole's, shielding her petite figure from splinters, debris and, if necessary, even bullets. His police uniform and skin was slashed and cut in various places, but he adamantly refused to give up his vanguard.

"Yo!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. "How about some cover fire over here!"

"You heard the man!" Britt agreed. "Give it to him!"

Casey and Yochim looked over to each other, clicked the safeties off their pistols and nodded. In fluid, choreographed motion, they stood, turned and opened fire.

**BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! **

"Nicole!" Tim snapped quickly at her. "Go! Now!"

Shrieking in fright, she ran across the ten foot wasteland that lead to the file cabinet salvation. She ran hunched over with her hands clutching her head as bullets whizzed by her.

"HA!" Tim lifted the remnants of the desk, spun and chucked it towards the front of the building. The gunfire died off because of it, and that's when the big man ran for the cover himself. He almost there when-

**THUNFK! **

-a bullet smacked into him. He lost his balance, tripped and slid to safety. Casey and Yochim stopped firing and ducked back down.

"Tim!" Nicole clutched at him. "Are you all right?"

"SON OF A BITCH! THE ASS!" Tim thundered. "I GOT SHOT IN THE DAMN ASS! HOW IN THE HELL DOES SOMEONE AS PRETTY AS ME GET IN SHOT IN THE-"

**RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT! **

Robbie pulled him down just as bullets exploded into the wall behind him.

"Move it or lose it!" Robbie told him, blindly thrusting his pistol around the file cabinet and unloading the clip.

"Casey, Yochim!" Britt got their attention. "How many are there?"

"Too many," Yochim told her bluntly. "They could easily swarm us under."

"Then why don't they?"

"Probably because they're kids." Yochim answered her, reloading his gun. "Gang members. They could swarm us under, but they'd lose some people in the act. They're scared."

"Space is a waste of youth."

"Don't you mean 'youth is a waste of space'?" Robbie asked him.

"Er...s-sure."

"If they're so scared, then you think we could persuade them to leave?" Britt asked Yochim, not so hopefully.

"I don't think yhey're _that_ scared..."

"We're not gonna be able to stay here forever." Britt decided. "Scared or not, they're gonna kill us sooner or later."

"Great," Tim muttered sarcastically, holding his...rear end.

**RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT! **

"Eek!" Nicole flinched and shuddered. "W-what are we gonna do?"

"They have us outgunned." Robbie pointed out. "This is a police station. Doesn't it have...ya know...bigger guns somewhere?"

Britt thought about it.

"There's an armory downstairs. There's an antechamber where we keep confiscated weapons."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Tim demanded, wincing a bit as he half-stood.

"But the elevators are up there!" Britt objected, pointing. "Ya know, where the _GUNFIRE_ is coming from?"

"Hmph," Tim grunted. "Who needs a elevator...when you can have a hole?"

Before their eyes, he began to grow. The venom serum, replacing his adrenaline, coursed through his veins. At ten feet, he stopped his growth and stared menacingly at the floor with glowing green eyes.

"Um...I-I think we should back up now." Nicole stuttered.

Tim leapt up, brought down his feet hard and...went through the floor.

**CRASH! **

Britt blinked, then she shook her head.

"You know a door when you see one, go!"

A few moments later, the seven of them were in the basement floor of the police station. Tim had returned to his normal size. Despite the cuts on his face and body, and the bullet that had grazed his lower cheek, he was unharmed.

"All right," he said. "Where the stuff we're gonna use to blow shit up?"

"Over this way." Britt motioned them. "C'mon!"

The sprinted across the concrete floor to a room that had no windows. Brit fumbled with the keys at her belt.

"Hurry up!" Murphy urged her, holding his shoulder. "They're coming!"

"There!" Britt popped the door open.

They all stared, but Officer Casey was the first to break the silence.

_"FUCKING ROYAL!" _

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT  
Slade sat in a large, dark room. His single eye was emblazoned with an unholy, insidious joy. He heard a footfall behind him and called without looking.

"Why isn't the power reserve online, Kitten?"

"This is my first experience with a man calling me 'kitten'." Brother Blood smirked. "I find it strangely endearing."

Slade quickly stood and-

"Please, Slade." Brother Blood told him congenially. "No need to rise on my behalf. We know each other much too well for such formalities, don't you think?"

Slade's eye narrowed

"Your pomposity is not amusing, Sebastion."

"My name is Brother Blood. 'Sebastion' died alongside my father. You'd do well to remember that."

"...How did you know to find me here?"

"When I bit Robin, I didn't just absorb his fighting techniques." Brother Blood explained. "I absorbed _him_. His feelings and knowledge and memories. For someone who isn't involved in the criminal community of this city, he knows a lot about you. I simply combined my knowledge with his and figured it out." He suddenly smiled. "If you'd care to make an arrangement, I could even tell you his true identity."

Slade's eye flickered briefly with curiosity, but then he shook his head.

"I'm not foolish enough to make any kind of deal with you." He paused before adding: "Besides, when the sun rises tomorrow, it will no longer matter. If I find my curiosity is insatiable, I'll peel the eyemask off of his corpse."

"So this is all a plot to destroy the Titans?"

"Hardly that, Sebastion. There are much more efficient ways to accomplish that. This planned is designed to help me obtain the only thing that matters: Power."

"You think Trigon will give you power?"

"...Something like that."

The two villains studied each other wordlessly. Both were prepared to fight, but neither would make the first move. Finally, Brother Blood broke the silence when he said:

"I saw your broadcast on television earlier. And I believe I know what your demand will be. You might soon have the door...but I have the key."

"You have the cross pendant?" Slade demanded of him. "Give it to me."

"Heh, you wish."

Slade took a threatening step forward and Brother Blood responded by half-crouching into a martial arts stance.

"We can proceed to round two if you want, Slade." He told him. "But it won't do you any good: I wasn't stupid enough to bring it here."

"...Then what are you doing here, then?"

"Both of use have, or will have, a single piece of the puzzle." Brother Blood pointed out. "Separately, they are useless. But together...they open the door to tomorrow."

"Are you suggesting we 'bury the hatchet'?"

"As long as we don't bury it into either of our backs...sure."

"You expect me to trust a man, a boy, really, who stabbed his own father in the back?"

"This is different." Brother Blood insisted. "You have something I want."

"You mean to say you didn't want your father's cloak, which you wear now?" Slade scoffed chidingly. "Or control over his people, which you possess now as well?"

"..."

"No, Sebastion. I'm not foolish enough to trust you. When I decide I'm ready to have the cross pendant, I'll come and _TAKE_ it."

Brother Blood seemed a little taken aback by that claim.

"But you don't know where it is."

"I can find out. In case you didn't know, I'm quite the accomplished torturer. I tortured a follower of yours not long ago. He thought he was strong...but I showed him how _weak_ he really was. He told me everything I wanted to know and, by the end of it all, he was _begging_ me for death."

Brother Blood seethed.

"Was there something?" Slade asked him plaintively, insultingly turning his back on him.

"..."

"..."

"...Tell me Slade, which do you like better: Jinx or Kitten? I'm sure Trigon will want some 'entertainment' when he arrives."

"...Get out."

Brother Blood did that...smiling.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

The air was still around what had been the underground city of Neo Zandia. What had once been a fully functioning city was now abandoned and as silent as utter nothingness. Many of the strange, pyramidal stone buildings were still standing. Others were nothing but rubble, or shells of what they once were. Large boulders were scattered about like fired cannonballs, and stalactites that had fallen from the ceiling laid about like petrified corpses.

Despite all that happened there, what had once been Brother Blood's city was actually...peaceful.

Until-

"Rauuughghgh!"

**FW-FWOOSH! BOOOOOOOM! **

The silence was broken when rock, rubble and dust exploded outwards, revealing a passageway that, seething, Bard stood at the mouth of. His hair was down and in disarray and his coat was covered with dust, but the cowboy didn't give a damn.

"BROTHER BLOOD!"

He saw immediately that the place was abandoned, but his logic wasn't working at the moment.

"BROTHER BLOOD!" He roared again. "I KNOW YOU'RE HERE, SEBASTION! COME OUT AND FACE ME LIKE A MAN!"

No answer but echo. Bard bent down slightly and commanded a wind to fling him upwards. He flew over the ruined, secret city, eyeing every shadow and hiding place as if Brother Blood would pounce at him at any second. Finally, after seemingly an eternity of searching and calling out challenges to no one, Bard gave up. He landed and caught his breath, hunched over in defeat. He finally looked up...and found himself before the unscathed cathedral of Neo Zandia.

It was the church the original Brother Blood had preached from...and it was absolutely beautiful. It was made from glossy, white marble. It had sweeping steps leading to its red oak front doors. The long windows of colored glass, despite filtering little light, were soothingly dark and deep. Almost drawn, Bard slowly mounted the steps and walked to the doors. He reached for the door handle, but a single thought stopped him.

_He took Amber..._

The cowboy's hand froze in the very act of reaching out.

_He let Brother Blood take Amber...why?_

He stood there for an incalculable amount of time, locked in indecision.

**BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! **

The stylized ring echoed loudly. Slowly...Bard took his hand away from the door and used to reach for his communicator.

"What is it?" He asked, still looking at the doors before him.

_"Bard," _Robin told him_. "I need you back in the city. Where are you now?" _

"Neo Zandia." Bard answered, finally turning to the screen showing Robin's face. "The caves."

_"Any sign of Brother Blood?" _

"None, this place is abandoned."

_"Then he's probably in the city." _Robin theorized. _"I need you back here anyway. The power is out and Slade and Crimson Wolf are out on the loose. We need all the help we can get." _

"I'll come back...but I'm only looking for Brother Blood. If I see Slade or Crimson Wolf, I'll call you."

_"But-" _

"Bard, out." He clicked off the communicator and repocketed it.

_'How do you like it?'_ He thought coldly.

Then he swiftly turned his back on the church and walked away, never looking back.


	87. Final Verse, Part Five

_"You were right. Irony __**was**__ the better word..." - Superboy _

_**CHAPTER EIGHTY SEVEN  
FINAL VERSE, PART FIVE **_

Jump City was like a dreary painting or a dramatic poem read inwardly: Dark and lonely and quiet and beautiful in it's drab, efficient bitterness. Quite similar to a certain Titan sorceress. And, with only the slightest bit of guilt, Raven loved it.

The atmosphere fit Raven perfectly. With the power plant destroyed courtesy of Crimson Wolf, the city was thrust into near complete blackness. Also because of the escaped terrorist, the city streets were abandoned and silenced reigned. Scary how the wicked soothed her... It was strange that Raven took so much comfort in the combination of blackness and silence. It was almost as if she longed for death. And, somewhere deep down...she did. It would certainly make things safer for the ones she...cared for. Her...friends.

One large building was still powered, and its glaring white light was an imperfection on the utopia of darkness that covered the city. But, nonetheless, Raven found herself levitating towards it almost against her will. She loved the darkness, yet the light beckoned her...

She drifted closer and closer...

**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! **

The concussion of the blast sent Raven spiraling down like a purple, shadowy wraith. She landed hard on a rooftop and rolled to a painful stop. On her hands and knees, she weakly lifted her head. Her hood fell back, and her face and eyes flickered.

The light that had been pure and white was now a hellish mixture of orange, red and black. The explosion did next to nothing to the structure of the building, but the whole building was suddenly on fire. Up close, Raven recognized it...and gasped in horror.

"The hospital..."

Raven immediately sank into a teleporting hole and found herself inside the hospital, flanked on all sides by gnashing, hungry flames. She had barely conjured up a round, obsidian shield to surround her vulnerable self before a man suddenly flung himself haphazardly against it. Or, at least, the tortured shell of what had ONCE been a man.

"_HELP ME!" _He shrieked in utter horror and absolute agony. His body was terribly burned and blackened, his clothes gone but no longer necessary. The right side of his face was unmarred, but the left side actually _melted_ as Raven watched and his left eye literally _boiled_ in its own eye socket.

Raven couldn't help it: She cringed away from the terrible, sickening sight. The man's one good eye rolled back in his head and he fell to the floor, dead...but dreadfully alive.

Raven turned away, and that's when she saw the little girl, frozen in her wheelchair. She was perhaps eight years old and, though flames surrounded her, she ignored them and stared at the fallen, maimed man. Her blue eyes were glazed as she stared.

Incomprehensibly.

Incomprehensibly.

And then, like a wave at its peak, realization crashed down and flooded her eyes.

"_DADDY!" _In an act of desperation, the girl threw herself forward out of her chair towards her father. Her unfeeling legs crumpled immediately. She cried and crawled and pleaded to a man who couldn't hear her. She was an angel without wings, with the reaper's scythe descending upon her.

"Come," Raven said to her.

The girl didn't move.

"Come," Raven repeated. "We can't stay here." She reached out her hand-

And the girl flinched away. Her eyes, Raven finally saw, were filled with anguish and fear and _hatred_...

"I don't blame you, child." The chilling voice cut through the sorrow and fire. "I would be frightened by that demon, as well."

The girl turned to her salvation and started crawling towards him.

Slade.

Raven didn't notice her crawling though, because she had stepped back from Slade's words as if they had been a physical blow.

"You're the evil one, Slade." She said despite that, her words convicted and her eyes not.

"Regardless of what I am," Slade purred. "You will always be _that...much...worse_. I am nothing compared to you, child...and you _know it_."

"..."

Raven couldn't bring herself to reply.

"It's always the quiet ones, isn't it?" Slade continued. A woman, her body aflame, burst through a doorway between them. Screaming bloodily, she ran aimlessly down a hallway before collapsing into herself like a burning house. Slade ignored her. "Imagine my surprise when, upon finally discovering how to talk to Trigon, I learned that both you and Bard were his children."

"What do you want, Slade?"

"I want you, my dear." He answered her with bone-chilling simplicity. "I always thought Bard was the key...but the past proves I miscalculated. It's you, Raven. It's always been you. Bard may have come from Trigon, but you are his _true_ child. You're the one with all the right genes. Bard, unfortunately, fell too far from the tree."

The villain looked around.

"What do you think of my napalm bomb? It seems like home, doesn't it?" Slade's single eye narrowed. "You are my demand, Raven. Submit to me, or Crimson Wolf and I will destroy this city. Building by building. Life...by...life."

He reached down and easily picked up the crawling little girl.

"And I'll start with this one."

He pivoted, turned and flung the helpless little girl through the window behind him.

**CRASH! **

"_NO!" _Raven sprinted forward. But as she passed Slade, she heard him whisper:

"I'll be waiting for you..."

That made her shudder even more than the red, smeared blood on the broken glass of the window.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"_FUCKING ROYAL!" _Officer Casey yelled enthusiastically, with Tim, Nicole, Yochim, Murphy, Robbie and Britt behind him. The room they were looking into was no doubt an armory. Dozens of pistols and rifles and automatic weapons lined the walls. Even more archaic weapons like daggers and knives and swords could be seen.

"Guns," Yochim smiled. "Lots of guns..."

"Can it, Neo." Britt told him, taking charge and shouldering her way past. "We don't have a lot of time. Murphy, you stay out here and keep watch." She lead the rest of them into the room.

"What's the plan?" Robbie asked.

"I'm working on it." Britt muttered. "It's obvious they want control of the building. And we can't give it up: It's too important."

"We can't just blast them all away." Yochim pointed out. "There's only six of us. Tim's pretty girl has no training and Murphy has an injured shoulder."

"We can't just run away." Robbie stepped up. "People are depending on us."

"So..." Nicole summed it up meekly. "We can't give up the station and we can't run away."

"Sounds like a last stand to me..." Yochim told them, even as he picked up and examined a rifle.

"No last stands necessary." Tim suddenly grinned. "I have a plan."

Britt shivered.

"Here's what we're gonna do..."

Meanwhile, Nicole looked worriedly into space, her arms unconsciously wrapped around her stomach.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Starfire flew across the city, her arms at her sides and her head down. Her emerald optics scanned the streets below for any signs of Crimson Wolf, Slade, Brother Blood or even Jinx and Kitten. Her glazed eyes, however, showed that her mind was elsewhere.

All terran boys are complicated. Raven has informed her of this. But, try as she might, Starfire could not persuade herself to believe that there was a male in the whole universe more complicated than Robin. Her best friend, who others sometimes called 'The Boy Wonder', was not perfect. But his imperfections demanded respect. His greatest weakness became his greatest strength...and became his greatest weakness again.

Robin was not equipped with a sonic cannon or shapeshifting abilities. He couldn't run at the speed of sound. Nor did he have demon or Tammaranian blood flowing through his veins. Physically, he was born no different from any other terran. But his true power came from within: His indomitable will. The ideological stubbornness that told he could fly, despite his lack of wings. But, reversely, that same voice constantly seemed to tell him that he was never good enough, as well. That he could better. That he _should_ be better.

His feelings were as hidden as his eyes. Robin was a leader first, and then a warrior and a detective and a friend second. He loved his friends, but he showed it only in the vaguest of ways through intense training and, sometimes, paranoid suspicions. He wanted to protect them. But in the act of focusing so much on the perfection of his body and mind, his heart got lost in the shuffle, and it missed out on so many wonderful things...

Though she tried not to be, Starfire couldn't help but be jealous of The Ravager. Robin had chosen her to accompany him instead of herself. And the question was: Why?

Did he perceive The Ravager as a better warrior than her? Or perhaps he could relate to her more acutely? The Ravager did have many similarities to Robin, Starfire admitted to herself. And-

Her train of thought stopped as sharply as Starfire did herself in midair.

And she stared.

And stared.

And stared...

Finally, without looking away, she brought out her communicator.

"Friends," she said numbly into it. "I have run into something...most disconcerting."

"What is it?" Cyborg's voice came back. The drone of the T-Car could vaguely be heard in the background.

"There are many young people entering the city." Starfire reported. "Many, _many_ young people. And they are armed with the guns..."

"Um, Starfire." Beast Boy's strained voice answered. "Are they wearing black?"

"They are not."

"What is it, BB?"

"There isn't just one army." The changeling gulped. "...There are two."

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

**CRASH! **

"No!" Raven dove out of the blood smeared window after the falling girl, even as Slade stepped back and disappeared into the shadows.

The cold, whooshing night air bit bitterly into her face, but Raven didn't care. She arced her arms forward and pressed her legs tightly together as if she were diving into water, trying to be as wind resistant as possible so she could catch up to the falling little girl. Raven's violet eyes were narrowed determinedly, but something ate at the back of them.

_'Regardless of what I am, you will always be __**that...much...worse**__. I am nothing compared to you, child...and you __**know it**__.'_

Raven's eyes faltered waveringly for a brief second, but then they instantly hardened again. She grit her teeth and strained all the harder. But the girl's shrill, horror-filled scream pierced her then and she realized:

_I'm not going to make it... _

Her soul shuddered.

**SWOOSH! **

In a streak of blue, red and black, Superboy blurred in and caught the falling girl just in time. Raven let out an extreme, explosive sigh of relief, righted herself and levitated gently to the ground.

"You were right." Superboy said to her, even though his eyes never left the burning building before him. His face was like granite, but his eyes were haunted. "Irony _was_ the better word..."

Raven's eyes softened slightly.

"Superboy..."

**SWOOSH! **

He zoomed into the building, leaving her alone with the little girl. Raven shook her head sadly and turned lethargically to the little girl. She reached for her...

"No!" She shrieked. "Get away from me!" Even on useless legs, she cringed and tried to crawl from her.

"..."

Raven looked away.

TTTTT

Relatively close to the scene, Bard flew over the dark city on conjured wind currents. Though he tried, he couldn't help but see the burning hospital in the darkness, a blazing pillar of fire.

It didn't matter, though. Bard's mission was Brother Blood and nothing else. The other Titans could handle it.

'The Titans can handle it. The Titans can handle it...' He chanted over and over to himself in his head.

But he still found himself veering towards the building.

"Shit."

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"Here they come!" Britt shouted. "_FIRE_!"

**RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT! BLAM! BLAM! CHA-CHINK! PHQAUW! **

Yochim squatted back down behind his cover and shoved another clip into his M-16. He looked over at Britt.

"Are you gonna shoot or what?"

Britt shook her head.

"I'll help you guys reload. I-"

"We don't need you to reload for us, Britt. We need you to lay down some fire!"

"..." Britt hesitated. "...I can't shoot people."

Yochim's eyes widened.

_"What?" _

"Ack!" Murphy yelped and fell over as a bullet slammed against the very top edge of the tipped, metal table he was using for cover. "A little help?"

Yochim side-glanced at Britt, turned, shouldered his gun and returned fire.

"W-we just have to hold out!" Britt yelled out, trying to return to leader mode. "It's all on Tim and Nicole now!"

She fingered her holster pistol and whispered:

"It's all on them now..."

TTTTT

"Stay behind me, Nicole." Tim threw over his shoulder as they climbed the winding stairs. They crept around and scouted each corner carefully before proceeding.

"Just be careful." Nicole told him. "We can't have you being hurt now."

"Now?" He lead her around another corner and up more steps.

"Just...we'll together again. I don't want to lose you."

Tim stopped and turned to her.

"Don't worry about me." He winked. "I'm too sexy to die. Now c'mon!" He turned...

And found himself at gunpoint.

A young gang member stood at the top of the stairs, wearing a purple bandanna and pointing a pistol.

Tim blinked.

"What the hell kind of fruity-faced gang wears purp-"

**BLAM! **

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Levitating, Starfire put away her communicator. She looked ahead at the multicolored group of gang youth before her, marching into the city. Her green eyes were wide as she beheld them, showing fear and pity and doubt; but most of all: Compassion. But then she closed them and clenched her fists. Green star bolts immediately enclosed them and, when she reopened her eyes, they burned with emerald fire. All the fear and pity and doubt and compassion was gone.

_"I am Koriand'r, Warrior Princess of Tammaran! I swear by the royal blood of my ancestors that you WILL NOT TAKE THIS CITY!" _

She swooped forward, but Kitten was suddenly in her path atop a flat, circular hover disc, her huge laser rifle in tow. Starfire pulled up to a stop in mid-air. Silently, Jinx floated on an identical disc behind her. Starfire levitated sideways, trying to stare them both down at once. She gritted her teeth and suddenly lifted her hands.

"Haa!"

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Robin and The Ravager traveled quickly across the city, searching. Robin swooped ahead via grappling hook while The Ravager leapt acrobatically from building top to building top, sometimes using her metal bo staff as a vault when necessary.

Robin arced, flipped and landed silently in a crouch on the edge of a building top. He paused to catch his breath, watching the street below. The Ravager didn't even break stride. She planted her staff into the concrete beside Robin, vaulted, front flipped and landed on another building, sprinting again. Robin took in a deep breath, reached into his belt and readied a grappling hook, but something stopped him halfway.

There was a little girl down on the street, laughing and spinning in a pointless, blissful circle. That laugh quickly turned into an overacted, sorrowful wail when a woman, probably her mother, quickly scolded her and quickly dragged her back into the entrance of the apartment building. The woman cast fearful glances up and down the street until the two of them were back into the safety of the building.

Robin crouched there, his eye slits narrowed as the wheels in his head turned relentlessly. When realization hit, those slits widened in horror.

_"Ravager!" _

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

His hair tangled and his coat more than a little singed, Bard landed wearily on the sidewalk. He collapsed into a sitting position, breathing heavily. His face was covered in black soot, which he had only half successfully rubbed off on his shirt. His hat was gone and, truth be told, the cowboy couldn't even remember where he'd lost it. And he didn't care. Despite fighting for breath inside the burning hospital, which was now just a black husk, he lit up a cigarette.

Raven walked up behind him. She looked tired and a bit troubled but, because of her telekinesis shield, she looked no worse for the wear.

"Are you all right?"

Bard turned and gave her such a look that she actually looked away. He exhaled smoke before asking:

"Where's Superboy?"

"He's moving the survivors to Titans Tower." Raven informed him. "It's the closest place with power. He can used his superspeed for a few, but most are in too bad of condition to take that kind of strain. He'll have to fly them. It will take a while."

Bard just nodded and inhaled another drag from his cigarette.

"Can I ask you something, Bard?"

He shrugged, not even looking at her.

"If you hurry up and ask before this cigarette is finished. Then I'll be looking for Brother Blood again."

"...You think he-"

"He don't have no reason to keep her alive." He said it brusquely. "If you got a question to ask, hurry up."

As Raven collected her thoughts, Bard obliviously nursed his cancer stick.

"Why do you respect Jesus so much?"

Bard looked over his shoulder at her, obviously surprised.

"This ain't really the time for a theological discussion, don't ya think?" He turned back to his cigarette just as Raven turned away herself.

"I am not talking theology here." She droned. "Just answer the question."

"Fine," Bard sighed in defeat, billowing smoke from his nose and mouth. "In a nutshell, he saved us."

"Saved?"

"What do you think he was doing up there on that cross? Enjoying the view?" Bard flicked ashes on the sidewalk. "He suffered that as a man to forgive us of our sins. Every sin. Every sin committed and every sin that will be. All forgiven."

"So...you believe Jesus sacrificed himself for the good of all?"

"Sure. Yeah, I'd agree with that."

"What about you?" Raven prodded. "Would you sacrifice yourself for the good of all?"

"What?"

"You heard what I said, Bard."

The cowboy took in a deep breath.

"...Yeah, I reckon I would. But you have to understand that-" He stopped halfway and turned.

Raven was gone.


	88. Final Verse, Part Six

_Disclaimer: The song within is not mine._

_"Who else wants to meet Mr. Lamppost?" - Cyborg_

_**CHAPTER EIGHTY EIGHT  
FINAL VERSE, PART FIVE **_

_Fifteen year old Jonny sat on a street corner of his hometown, which was nestled somewhere in the mountains of North Carolina. His guitar case lay open on the sidewalk in front of him, holding a few scattered, silver coins. His guitar, of course, was in his hand. He strummed the strings as he sang: _

_**# Well I woke up Sunday mornin' with no way to hold my head that didn't hurt # **_

_An older woman walked by, bent over and dropped a one dollar bill into the guitar case. Jonny flashed her a quick smile before continuing. _

_**# Cause there's something in a Sunday that makes a body feel alone # **_

_That's when he saw her for the first time. It wasn't love at first sight, but Jonny saw almost immediately that there was something special about her. She stood maybe ten yards away up the street. She was watching him openly and shamelessly, showing absolutely no embarrassment or even self-consciousness. The girl started walking towards Jonny as he finished the song. _

_**# And there's nothin' short of dyin' that's half as lonesome as the sound of a sleeping city sidewalk and Sunday mornin'...comin' down # **_

_"Hi." _

_Jonny strummed one last time and looked up at the girl standing before him, dressed in a light, flowered dress. _

_"Howdy." _

_"I liked your performance." The blue-eyed, dark-haired girl told him. "But I just don't agree with Kris Kristoferson's words." _

_Jonny blinked. He did a double take. He blinked again. _

_"You know who Kris Kristoferson is?" He half-demanded in awe. _

_"Doesn't everybody?" _

_Jonny smiled broadly. _

_"I think I love you!" He declaimed with a look of mock, over the top infatuation. _

_The girl giggled. _

_"But you don't even know my name yet!" _

_"All right, what is it?" _

_"Amber," _

_"Now can I love you?" _

_Amber smiled at him. _

_"I'll think about it." _

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"Hell yes!" Commissioner Walker raged into the cell phone. "I know there are two god damned armies, ya dickhead! Wha-" He stopped and listened for a moment. "I don't give a flying shit if you're the damn president of the United fucking States of America, Mayor Dickhead! If I wanna call you a dickhead, ya dickhead, I'll call you a god damned dickhead! Got that, dickhead? Phew, now where was I? Oh, yeah: I know there are two god damned armies, ya dickhead! What do you want me to do? Split myself the fuck in half and deal with both of them at the same time? Well, how about this, Mayor Dickhead? You're the biggest ass I've ever seen, so I bet your asscrack starts right below your nonexistent hair line and ends right above your equally nonexistent cock! You're already half split, so why don't you finish the job, stop stuffing your face with doughnuts, send the slut under your desk back to the whorehouse and actually do something to help! Either way, shut the fuck up and let me do my god damned job, you pudgy bastard!" He turned and angrily flung the phone through the open back window of a patrol car. "Suck on that, slapnuts!" He spit after it.

Walker looked up and found an officer blinking at him.

"What the hell are you staring at? Look busy! I swear, you're about as useful as a shit-flavored lollipop, ya know that, assclown!"

The commissioner's thoughts turned to his daughter, Holly. He had put her in a safe place once word of Crimson Wolf's escape had reached him, but he still worried. She was the only family he had left. If something happened to his baby...

"S-sir," the officer pulled him out of reverie. "What do you want me to do?

Walker looked at the meager amount of police cars they had crisscrossed in front of them, blocking the street. Then he looked up and stared down the stretch of street he knew the unofficial army would be marching down soon. He turned and looked the officer in the eye.

"Pray."

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"Haa!"

Starfire flung out two green starbolts simultaneously; one aimed at Jinx and the other thrown at Kitten where the two villanesses were floating on their hoverdiscs. Jinx crouched, grabbed the front of her hoverdisc and backflipped over the fiery projectile. Kitten dodged as well and, respectfully, the two of them retaliated with a pink hex bolt and a red laser shot. Starfire air-pivoted to the left just enough to avoid the attack.

**BOOM! **

The collision of the two energies resulted in an explosion. The concussion of the blast sent Starfire spiraling down towards the cold, unforgiving concrete of the street below like a gunned down jet. She swooped up just in time before impact, arced hard to the side and rocketed into a broad alley. The heroine snuck a peek over her shoulder and saw Jinx and Kitten following her from behind. She looked back ahead with barely enough time to see and avoid a rusty, iron fire escape as she zoomed along. Thunder rumbled overhead, but she paid it no heed.

**ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! **

Red laser shots from Kitten's rifle buzzed angrily in the air around Starfire and she had to constantly dodge and weave and swerve and barrelroll as she flew to keep from being hit. Kitten's shots missed their mark and bit deeply into the buildings on either side of them. Seeing that, Starfire tried to rise over the rooftops, but a few strategically placed laser shots from Kitten defeated her efforts.

Starfire looked ahead then and saw the alleyway would soon empty into a street. She sped up and, even as she did, she realized her mistake: She had forgotten and lost track of Jinx.

The pink-haired witch showed herself as Starfire entered the street and greeted her with a double handful of glowing hexbolt to the face. Starfire limply fell from the air and smashed back first onto the roof of a car. When she finally fought off her disorientation, she groaned painfully and opened her eyes to see Jinx and Kitten leering down at her from their hoverdiscs.

With a flash of lightening for punctuation, the heavens decided at that moment to release a torrential downpour, making everything hazy and indistinct...

And the rain poured down.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"Ravager!"

Robin immediately shot out his grappling hook and swooped off after her. Cutting through the cold night air, he finally caught up to her. He arced wide around the building she was sprinting across, flung himself upwards and landed on the roof in front of her before she could leap to another. The Ravager stopped, but her leg muscles were still taut as if she were planning to bound away again at any moment.

"I figured it out." He told her. "I figured out where Crimson Wolf is going to strike next. Last time, he was picking targets to illicit fear from the general populace. But not this time. The hospital. The power plant. He's trying to cripple the city itself and the next logical step is to attack-"

"I don't care."

Robin's head shot up sharply.

"What?"

"I don't care." The Ravager repeated. "My one and only objective is Slade. Everything else, Crimson Wolf included, is your problem."

"It doesn't work that way, Ravager!" Robin barked at her, cutting the air with his gloved hand. "You're a Titan now and, as such, you do what I tell you to do; what's best for the team! I won't tolerate any of my teammates running wild, pursuing personal vendettas."

"Like Bard?" The Ravaged said. "I heard the two of you talking on your communicator."

That gave Robin pause, but then he shook his head.

"Bard's circumstances are different. But I'm not going to stand here and justify myself to you. I'm the leader of the Teen Titans. You _will_ follow my commands or you will quit. Understand?"

"I understand." The Ravager replied. "And I quit."

She walked away from him.

"Ravager..."

She kept walking.

"Ravager!"

She stopped, but didn't turn around.

"What is it?"

Silence.

"What is-" She half-turned and stopped in midsentence.

Robin was gone.

And the rain poured down.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Beast Boy and Cyborg stood in the middle of the street with the T-Car not far away, staring at the multitude of black-robed cultists marching toward them.

"Teen Titans vs. creepy Brother Blood followers. Round two." Beast Boy announced.

"How can you sound so cheerful?" Cyborg asked him. "If you'll remember, we didn't do so well against these guys last time."

Beast Boy blinked.

"And last time," Cyborg went on. "We had Robin, Superboy and Starfire helping us. Now it's just the two of us versus...however many of them there are.

"Are you saying we should just run away?"

"No way, dawg! I'm just saying...this doesn't look good."

"Man, Cy! Have you always been this sucky at pep talks, dude?"

"Hardy har har." Cyborg fake laughed. "Very funny, little man. Make yourself useful and turn into something big that can kick ass."

"Aye, aye, captain!" Beast Boy mock saluted, turned and zipped into the shape of an emerald lion. Letting out a bestial roar, he ran towards the cultists in long, loping strides.

"Here goes nothing." Cyborg muttered to himself. He changed his arm into a sonic cannon, but had second thoughts after a moment and changed it back. He tensed himself and charged forward as well.

Beast Boy Reached the cultist first. But just before he did, he transformed in stride into a billy goat with his head down and his blunted horns at the ready.

**WH-WH-WH-WH-WHUMP! **

Beast Boy charged headlong into the cultists, sending black-robed bodies tumbling. He finally lost his momentum about ten men deep into the horde and the cultists dogpiled on him. Meanwhile, Cyborg had uprooted a twenty foot high lamppost and was manfully swinging it back and forth, keeping advancing cultists at bay. One particularly brave one dove forward to attack the robot hybrid and was rewarded for the effort by being walloped hard in the abdomen.

**CLANK! **

The cultist was flung into a crowd and took several of his allies to the ground along with him.

"Booya!" Cyborg pumped himself up. "Who else wants to meet Mr. Lamppost?"

"Rrragh!" Beast Boy erupted up from the throng of cultists in the form of a green gorilla and sent them flying every which way. He went to wolf form, loped over to Cyborg and went back to elf form. "So," he said to him. "How long do you think we can keep this up?"

Black-robed cultists surrounded them on all sides. Their reinforcements marched down the street towards them as far as they could see.

"Um..." Cyborg sweat dropped, gripping tighter to his serrated lamppost. "L-let me get back to you on that, BB..."

They stood together, teeth grit and trying to be strong against impossible odds.

And the rain poured down.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

_In a stuffy, high school gymnasium Jonny ran, turned and held out his arms. _

_"I'm open!" _

_Tim fought off his defender and chucked the basketball in Jonny's direction. _

_"Haugh!" Josh, a boy who was as wide around as he was tall, plowed into him bodily. The ball went out of bounds off of Josh's fingertips and Jonny was sent sliding across the polished wood floor. _

_"Oh hell no!" Tim raged. "That was a flagrant foul if I ever saw one!" _

_"Foul?" Josh scoffed. His eyes, deeply sunken into his pudgy face, gleamed maliciously. "I barely touched him! He slipped! Don't blame me for him being a clumsy bastard!" _

_Tim stomped forward, his face red. _

_"Let it go, man." Jonny was suddenly in front of him, holding him back. "We only need one more basket to win. We'll beat'em that way." _

_"Yo!" Dexter called, Josh's teammate. "We gonna play or what?" _

_Tim just grunted and picked up the ball. He passed it to Jonny, who was being guarded by Josh. Jonny ran to the far left of the court with Josh shadowing his every movement. He turned back to the left in a flash and, when Josh turned to follow, he bounced off of Tim's broad chest and fell to the floor. Jonny spun around Dexter, stuck out his tongue in an unconscious imitation of Michael Jordan and slammed down the winning basket. _

_"No fair!" Josh immediately whined. "That was a foul!" _

_"It was a pick." Jonny told him. "It's perfectly legal." _

_"Bullshit!" Josh shot back. "He hit me with his forearm and-" _

_Unknown to the protesting player, Tim reached down and picked up the basketball... _

_"And he was moving when he set up that pick, damn it! It's fucking illega-" _

_Josh turned just in time for his vision to fill with nothing but the black rubber spelling of the word 'Spalding'. _

_**WHAM! **_

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Restless, Holly stared up at the blank white ceiling above her from her lying position under the covers of a small, single bed. She was sleepy and wide awake at the same time. And that put her in a bad fucking mood.

'He dropped me off at the orphanage. The fucking _orphanage_!' She thought to herself. 'Nice going, dad. _Real_ subtle way of saying you don't want my ass, you senile bastard!'

Holly knew that Crimson Wolf was loose in the city and that she was being dramatic and irrational, but the teenage girl didn't care. Her father had barricaded her in their house during Crimson Wolf's first string of bombings, but at lease she had been able to sleep in her own bed.

Holly looked on either side of her and saw orphaned kids and teenagers sleeping peacefully. She felt guilty, for some reason. Here she was, mentally badmouthing her father...while these people would never get the chance to even meet their parents. They would live their entire lives without them.

A sudden chill shot through her. The orphanage was dark and cold, since the building didn't have a generator and the blankets she'd been given were about as thin as her dad's tomato soup. She shivered, cursed under her breath and stood up to go bitch at the headmaster. It would make her feel better...and as a side bonus, she might even get the blankets she'd be bitching about it.

She stood up and padded quietly across the large room, wearing only an oversized T-shirt that hung past her knees. She opened the door and walked down the hallway until she reached the door to the headmaster's bedroom. She lifted her petite hand to knock quietly on it...

**BANG! BANG! BANG! **

She slammed the butt of her fist into it. Hard.

**BANG! BANG! BANG! **

Nothing.

"Damn it!" **BANG!** "Open the fucking door!"

Still nothing.

"Damn," Holly muttered under her breath, opening the door. "I wish I could sleep as soundly as this bitc-"

She stopped. Absolutely froze.

Blood. Everywhere.

Splashed against the walls. Soaking into the white sheets of the bed.

The headmaster of the orphanage was dead. The matronly woman was gutted open from throat to navel like a wild animal. Blood was not the only thing that slid out of her body.

Holly, pale-faced, retched, doubled over and promptly vomited. Violently. She somehow averted her eyes and stumbled blindly out the door. She fell to the floor in the broad hallway, shivering and holding herself...

"Enjoy my handiwork, little girl?"

Holly stared at the foreign man, but couldn't answer. She was still in a state of shock. What she'd seen...

She retched again.

Crimson Wolf smiled sadistically and raised his hands, his large knife glinting in the darkness. He opened his mouth to speak...and stopped. He cocked his head to the side...listening. He turned away from Holly...and towards the window Robin swooped into a moment later.

"Put down the knife, Wolf!" The Boy Wonder barked at him harshly. "It's over!"

"You!" The terrorist spat. "I'm actually glad you're here. I was careless last time...underestimated you. I will not make the same folly twice! Haugh!"

He pounced, his electric rod sparking. Robin whipped out his bo-staff just in time to block, but Crimson Wolf was too strong. The two of them crashed through the window and slid through the mud outside.

And the rain poured down.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Raven levitated to a landing on a random rooftop. She stood there alone, breathing evenly, her thoughts pounding inside her skull. Until...

**ZHHHT! **

Zillah, white-robed, appeared out of nothingness.

"Raven," she called her gently.

The dark sorceress look up at her almost lethargically. Her shoulder were slumped. Her violet eyes were defeated.

"Do you realize task now, Raven?" Zillah asked her quietly. "What it is you must do?"

Raven finally gave her a brief nod.

"And will you do it?"

Raven smiled bitterly.

"I don't have a choice, do I?"

"You do not." Zillah replied with a regretful shake of her head. "But do not despair. As long as your brother lives, there is hope."

"Bard..." Raven muttered. "It all rests on him?"

"His faith will guide him. Farewell."

**ZHHHHT!**

With Zillah gone, Raven looked up at the black sky and carefully pushed back her hood. She closed her eyes, took in a deep breath and pulled out her communicator.

"Titans: I have my frequency set for one-way. I cannot hear you. I'm doing this because...there is something I must do. And, as my friends...you deserve to know."

TTTTT

Cyborg gritted his teeth, leaped up, locked his titanium hands together and slammed them down hard into the concrete. The street cracked and the resulting shockwave sent cultists falling from their feet.

_"Whether we realize it or not...we are at war. A war to protect all that we love and cherish." _

Beast Boy ducked a mace swing, turned into a donkey and back kicked a pair of cultists away.

TTTTT

_"And, in a war where the stakes are so high...sacrifices must be made." _

Grimacing, Robin back flipped over Crimson Wolf's leg sweep and slid to a stop in the mud.

_"I am prepared to be one of those sacrifices. It is the only way." _

TTTTT

Gasping in surprise, Jinx and Kitten recoiled on their hoverdiscs as Starfire erupted up like a green comet.

_"I will sacrifice all that I am. When the time comes...I will be your enemy." _

TTTTT

_"And Bard..." _

The cowboy stopped in mid-flight. Floating on wind.

Listening.

_"...I want you to be the one...when the time comes...to do what must be done." _

Bard's shocked, confused eyes teared up.

_"I know you can do it. I...l-love you. I love you all." _

Static.

And the rain poured down...


	89. Final Verse, Part Seven

_"In truth, I made both of you what you are today." - Slade_

_**CHAPTER EIGHTY NINE  
FINAL VERSE, PART SIX **_

The rain poured down. The sky's tears beat violently into the muddy, puddled ground like kamikazes, joining their fallen brethren in their earthen graves. Darkness pervaded where the rain did not and cold, white fog seeped out of it like weightless blood. The combination of all this made everything seem blurred and surreal and...sinister. The playground equipment - the swings and slides and seesaws and merry-go-rounds and monkey bars - all looked like hungry, half-concealed demons who were waiting to grow row upon row of rusty, metal teeth to devour anyone unlucky enough to come along. It was a battlefield in the guise of a wholesome play area for kids...while the sun looked down on it, anyway. But now, the sun was nowhere to be seen and it's true nature emerged.

And there Robin stood. Most of his hair was pushed down by the wetness, but a few stubborn, ebony spikes refused to yield. His face and suit was dirty. He squatted low, his metal-tipped boots planted as firmly as possible in the mud. In one hand he held his metal bo-staff and, in the other, he held a short sword composed of connected birdarangs. The eye slits of his mask were narrowed and his face was locked with determination.

Crimson Wolf stood across from him, no less prepared or intense. He held his sweating knife inverted and close to his body. His rod, though the electric charge in it was rendered useless by the rain, seemed no less lethal as he held it out before him.

The two mortal enemies stood there.

Watching.

Analyzing.

Seething.

And then, as if they were waiting for it as their signal to commence, lighting flashed, illuminating their battleground.

Robin and Crimson Wolf sprinted at each other. Robin batted away the terrorist's knife swing with his bo-staff and retaliated with a straight, high kick. Crimson Wolf ducked underneath it and swept his heel at Robin's sole planted leg. The Boy Wonder somehow vaulted sideways over it and landed on the merry-go-round. His momentum sent the metal contraption spinning and he used it to launch himself feet first back at Crimson Wolf. Wolf side stepped the attack, pivoted...and launched the knife after the hero.

**SLINKKT! **

_"Ahhhhhhh!" _

Robin's body crumpled and splashed down into the mud.

Crimson Wolf smirked.

"...Amateur."

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

In the Jump City Police Station...

On the staircase...

**BLAM! **

"_TIM!" _Nicole shrieked.

Blood spurted when the bullet slammed into him. The big man was spun around and he landed face down at the bottom of the set of stairs.

The gang member wearing a purple bandanna at the top of the stairs silently turned his pistol towards Nicole. She clenched her eyes shut...

**BLAM! **

Something hot and sticky splashed wetly across Nicole's face and chest. She hesitantly opened her eyes...and saw what was left of the gang member's head. She watched in horror as it dripped and oozed and leaked the human body's most intimate secrets as its body fell bonelessly to the steps, twitching compulsively. Nicole opened her mouth to scream.

"Ahh-mmmmph!"

A large, meaty hand covered her mouth from behind. She instinctively tried to struggled, but then Tim's voice enter her ear, talking quietly and soothingly to her.

"It's all right, Nicole. You're fine. I'm here. You're safe." He chanted it over and over until Nicole overcame enough of her shock to function and think coherently again.

"A-all of us almost d-died!" She stammered out.

"We're all right." Tim repeated. "And I'm sure Robbie and the others are still tearin' plenty of ass."

Nicole blinked, but then she nodded quickly.

"R-right!" She forced a smile.

Tim nodded, already looking around again.

"C'mon," he motioned to her. "We still gotta bust up the generator."

The big man turned and trotted up the steps. He had suffered a new gunshot would in his left shoulder, but Nicole hadn't even noticed: She had been too terrified, he foggily presumed. Behind him, Nicole clutched at her stomach, muttered a short prayer and followed her man up.

TTTTT

Britt, Robbie, Yochim, Murphy and Casey were still trapped inside the armory in the basement level of the JCPD Headquarters.

**BLAM! BLAM! RAT-A-TAT-TAT! POW! **

"Shit!" Murphy cursed, dropping back behind his cover. "Britt, I need some more ammo!"

Britt quickly complied and tossed a clip at him. He deftly caught it, slammed it into his gun and started firing again.

"They're too close!" Yochim shouted over the sound of gunfire. "We have to drive them back!"

Robbie grunted and recocked his gun.

"Any suggestions?"

"I got a suggestion." Casey announced. "I say I hold down R2 and hit right on the directional pad a couple of times before releasing it!"

**RAT-A-TAT-TAT! **

No one answered him.

"Jeez, I'm gonna use the Nikita missile launcher! Don't you guys speak English?"

Straining mightily, he hefted up the bulky weapon.

He took aim...

And that's when the four grenades skittered into the room.

Casey desperately fired.

Robbie stared.

Murphy muttered a quick prayer.

Yochim bowed his head in defeat.

Britt-

**B-B-B-BOOM! **

And then the lights went out.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Robin's world was nothing but dirt and mud and cold. But, most of all, the Boy Wonder felt nothing but intolerable, searing agony that coursed through his lithe body like napalm.

_"Ahhhhhhhhhugh!" _

Crimson Wolf smirked as he sauntered over, watching Robin's form wriggle pathetically in the mud. The terrorist slowly knelt down until they were face to face, and Robin could do nothing but bite back another scream.

"I told you before, boy." You are nothing but a gifted amateur." Crimson Wolf snarled as he took his sweet time in reaching down and grasping the hilt of the knife sticking out of the back of Robin's left leg, just above the knee. "But I am a _pro!" _To emphasize the last word, he viscously twisted the cold steel blade deeper into Robin's flesh.

_"Ahhhhhhhhugh!" _

The pain that had once been general had now been horrifically transferred to one specific area. Somehow this new, intense, piercing pain helped burn off some of the fog covering Robin's brain and, summoning up what strength he had, he kicked Crimson Wolf off of him his good leg. Crimson Wolf's grip on the knife was broken as he was pushed back. He stumbled, slipped and fell, hitting his head hard on the edge of a metal slide.

Meanwhile, Robin painfully sat up to his side. With a mighty grimace, he clenched his teeth and yanked the knife out of his. Blood spurted, but Robin fixed that when he ripped off his green sleeves and, trying them around the wound, made them into a makeshift bandage.

**WHUMP! **

Crimson Wolf had made it back to his feet and kicked Robin hard in the side. Robin rolled and bounced across the muddy ground. Almost totally on instinct, he vaulted up with his hands, backflipped and landed in a fighting pose...or tried to. His bad leg, upon impact, immediately buckled underneath him. He was forced down into a kneeling position. He looked up at his adversary.

Crimson Wolf stood before him. His forehead was gashed from his fall and blood leaked down, but he ignored it. Instead, he looked triumphantly at Robin.

"Hmm," he mused. "What is that annoying phrase American Yankees in the South like to say? 'You're like a one legged-man in an ass-kicking contest'?" He chuckled.

Robin grit his teeth and forced himself to stand, but Crimson Wolf was still talking.

"You see this, boy?" He leaned forward and pointed at his cheek. "This is the scar you gave me...with my own knife! By the time this night if over, I'll pay you back many, many, _many_ times over. That I promise."

The terrorist sprinted forward with his rod. Robin could do nothing but stand basically on one leg and futilely try to meet his charge...

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Jinx and Kitten gasped and quickly floated backwards on their hoverdiscs as Starfire whooshed up between them. Her blazing green eyes turned solely to behold Jinx in their fiery fury.

Jinx sweat dropped.

**ZAF! ZAF! ZAF! Z-Z-Z-ZAF! **

Jinx crouched low on her hoverdisc and zoomed away through the rain, away from the sizzling green star bolts. Sporadically, she'd barrelroll so she could launch hex bolts at her pursuer. Starfire flew off after her, keeping up her barrage of green energy. And Kitten followed _her_, shooting at her with her laser rifle. The air around them was filled with green and pink and red and crackled and popped and hissed like acid. And thus, the three girls progressed their moving battle.

A huge, glass tower loomed before them. Starfire tossed another star bolt at Jinx, but the projectile hit nothing but glass as Jinx pulled up on her hoverdisc and went straight up, just inches from the tower's side. Starfire zoomed to a stop, saw Kitten some distance back and smirked. With renewed fervor, she flew off like a shot to the left.

When Jinx reached the roof, she quickly leveled out, turned and readied two hex bolts. She waited.

And waited.

And waited.

"..."

She blinked her catlike pink eyes and hovered to the edge of the roof to peek down.

No one.

"Where did she-ack!"

**SWOOSH! **

Starfire exploded in from the side with a star bolt encased around her hand like a boxing glove. Jinx somehow dodged, but she was forced to leap off her hoverdisc. Starfire continued the assault-

**ZAF! ZAF! ZAF! **

-and Jinx managed to dodge with an insane array of acrobatic leaps, flips and tumbles. She started to retaliate with hex bolts, forcing Starfire to swerve left and right while she continued her assault. Jinx ran forward, rolled under a star bolt, hand vaulted off a air-conditioner unit and planted both of her platform shoes into Starfire's gut. Starfire fell out of the sky and landed back-first on the roof. Jinx flipped forward and prepared to give Starfire a face full of hex bolt, but the alien heroine caught her with her purple-booted feet and flung her back with her super-strength. Jinx was flung across the roof and crashed hard into the air-conditioner unit she had just vaulted off of a moment ago.

Starfire floated over to the downed villainess, her dark red hair drooping down over her shoulders.

"No longer will you help carry out Slade's evil plans."

"Put a sock in it."

Kitten's voice.

**ZAPPPPP! **

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Beast Boy and Cyborg were still engaged in battle with the army of black-robed cultists. In the beginning, they had amazingly halted the forward march of the horde. But such a valiant effort couldn't be kept up forever. The sheer numbers of their enemy and their own fatigue defeated them. Cyborg and Beast Boy continued to harass the front line but, inevitably, they were forced back by the implacable army.

And back.

And back.

And back until Commissioner Walker and the two dozen police officers standing with him behind their barricade of police cars could see them. They all looked on in disbelief, but Walker was the first to snap out of it. He leaped and slip over the hoods of the cars before him. When he was past the automotive blockade, he turned back to face his men.

"Well?" He yelled out to them. "Are you pansies just gonna stand there? Are you gonna roll over like spineless bitches and let the psycho, zealot bastards take over our home?"

"Hell no, sir!" An officer shouted out.

"Shit yeah!" Commissioner Walker approved. "That's what I wanna hear! Now keep your guns holstered unless absolutely necessary!" He ordered them. "Non-lethal force for as long as possible! Use your nightsticks! And make sure some of you bring what flash grenades and tear gas we have!"

He turned towards the black-clothed enemy.

His men stared at his back...waiting.

Walker reached blindly behind him and snapped his fingers. An officer quickly stepped forward and handed him a nightstick. The commissioner twirled it and pointed forward.

"Let's kick ass!"

Meanwhile, Beast Boy had kicked two away two cultists in the form of a green kangaroo before morphing back to his normal self. Sweating and panting, leaned forward to rest his hands on his knees...unaware of the cultist leaping at him from behind.

**CRACK! **

The cultist fell back and blood gushed. Commissioner Walker had smacked him just across the bridge of the nose with his nightstick.

"Dude!" Beast Boy gasped out in surprise. "You should go back! Cyborg and me-"

"This is our city, too, kid." Walker grunted, he turned and arced his nightstick again. "And you're fucking welcome."

**CRACK! **

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Bard floated limply on air, his face tilted up but his eyes closed. He was soaked to the bone, but he fought off his body's urge to shiver. The rain swept away the few shocked, sorrowful tears he had shed during Raven's speech. And now, he had a decision to make: Should he go after Brother Blood or should he search for Raven? The hatred Bard felt inside for Brother Blood burned just as hotly as before and no amount of rain could diminish it...but it was really no contest. Amber was already lost, but Raven was still here. His sister needed him, and he'd be damned if he wasn't there for her.

The cowboy whipped out his communicator, hit the button to track her and flew off again. The device eventually lead him to one of the many nondescript roofs of the city. He landed, took a few balancing steps and looked around.

Air conditioner units.

A box-shaped door that lead down into the building.

Metal, mushroom like plumes made for air circulation...

But no Raven.

"Raven," Bard called out.

No reply.

"Raven!" He tried again.

Nothing.

"I...I love you. Your friends love you. Talk to me, Raven!"

"Bard..." Raven stepped out before him. Her voice was quiet, and more demure than monotone.

"Raven, what are you doing? Why-"

Slade stepped out of the shadows behind her. Raven's face was downcast, and Slade laid both of his hands on her shoulders as if he were a loving, supporting father.

It made Bard sick to his stomach.

"I'm sorry, Bard." Raven couldn't meet his eyes. "I'm only doing what I must. I have no choice."

Bard took a step forward and passionately punched his palm with his fist.

"You always have a choice!"

The sharp feeling in his voice forced Raven to look up at him, but she just as quickly turned away as Slade whispered something in her ear.

"Go there." He finished. "I'll meet you there soon."

"Raven!" Bard helplessly raised a hand towards her. "No!"

Raven sunk slowly into a black teleporting hole. Just before her head submerged, she uttered:

"I'm sorry..."

"I'm sorry, Bard." Slade consoled him mockingly. "It seems as if Raven has already made her choice."

"_Arghhhhh!"_ Bard finally snapped. Balls of red flame enveloped his fists. "I don't know what you said to her, Slade, but you game ends _here!" _

Suddenly, The Ravager vaulted onto the roof, flipped over Bard's head and landed between him and Slade. Her back was turned towards the cowboy, and she didn't even look back when she said:

"Slade is mine. No one's going to rob me of the satisfaction I'll feel when he utters his last breath."

Slade gazed at the masked swordswoman from behind his black and brown mask, his single eye piercing through the rain.

"Hmm..." he murmured. "There's nothing quite like the relationship between a father and his daughter. Wouldn't you agree, Rose?"

"What?" Bard spluttered out, so surprised that the flames encasing his hands went out.

"Indeed," Slade intoned. "Rose is my daughter; my very own flesh and blood." He paused and lightning flickered across his helmet. "In truth, I made both of you what you are today."

"Lies!"

"Bullshit!"

Slade said nothing, but his single, visible eye was smug and amused.

Bard turned to The Ravager.

"If you don't hurry up and kill him...I will."

"And who says Christian kindness can no longer be found?" A voice called from behind him.

A young, male voice filled with haughty spite.

The voice of Brother Blood.

"Hello, Slade." The villain continued, greeting him. "You're looking as phallic as ever tonight."

Slade's eye narrowed menacingly.

"Are you here for a reason, Sebastion?" He asked the cult leader. "Or is your goal simply to just annoy me?"

"My name is Brother Blood." He insisted. "And no, Slade. As enjoyable as it is to get under your skin, that's not why I'm here. I'm here because I'm looking for Bard-" He looked at the cowboy in mock surprise, as if he'd only just then seen him. "Oh, there you are! Tell me, is Amber well?"

"_Rrrrraugh!" _The flames around Bard's hands sprang back to life, bigger and brighter than ever. Without a comprehensible word, wind literally exploded underneath him and launched himself at Brother Blood. For his part, Brother Blood smirked, waved and zoomed off with the cowboy hot on his heels.

"It seems we've been left all alone." Slade pointed out. "Isn't this the part where you proclaim your undying hatred for me?"

_CHINNNG! _

The Ravager drew out her rapier and fell into a fighting pose.

"I'd rather show you..."

"You must know this doesn't have to happen, child. All your life, Rose, you've never had a father to protect...to love you."

"..."

"I offer you that now, Rose. To be a part of a family. You will be my ultimate apprentice. I'll teach you all that I know. All my wisdom, all my power...all for you! Just come forth and take my hand..." Unarmed, he held out a hand of compassion, acceptance and love.

For a long time, The Ravager didn't move a muscle. Finally, she pushed back her mask to reveal her face and lowered her rapier. Her face was downcast. But, finally...when her head raised...

Her blue eyes were as hard and determined as ever.

"Shut up!" She yelled in controlled fury. "You killed my only family! You've proven time and time again...that you don't know how to love!"

Her rapier flashed back up, poised for battle.

Slade growled.

"You would refuse all I have to give? Very well. You refused my only gesture of mercy. There will not be another!" He took out his bo-staff, extended it and twirled it with a flourish.

He leaped forward.

"Prepare to join your mother!"


	90. Final Verse, Part Eight

_"No snappy comeback? No harsh rebuttal? No idealistic tangent concerning justice?" - Crimson Wolf_

_**CHAPTER NINETY  
FINAL VERSE, PART EIGHT **_

Crimson Wolf stomped across the rain-soaked playground of the orphanage. He leapt, spun and brought down his fighting rod at Robin with a heavy, overhand swipe.

Robin grunted and somehow brought up his own staff to block the attack, but the force bearing down on his wounded leg was too much. It buckled and forced him down to his knees. His birdarang sword had long been lost to his grasp, and now his bo-staff slipped and fell to the soggy ground as well.

"Where is the vibrant, idealistic warrior I fought before?" Crimson Wolf asked him. "One setback and you give up? You truly are an amateur..."

He pivoted, popped his hip and sent a devasting, arcing sidekick aimed at Robin's temple. A finishing blow, without doubt.

But it never finished.

**WHUMP! **

Robin brought up his forearm horizontally, stopping Crimson Wolf's foot from striking him. He grit his teeth and looked up at him with narrowed, determined eye slits.

"Raugh!"

Robin exploded upwards, using his one good leg as the spring, and upper-cutted Crimson Wolf solidly beneath the chin, spinning the whole time. His opponent was flung back and slid on his shoulders to a muddy stop. Robin landed, putting most of his weight on his good leg and using the bad one as nothing more than a balancing tool.

Crimson Wolf stood back up and wiped some of the organic mix of blood and mud from his face.

"So, you still have fight left in you? Good! That will make this all the more enjoyable..."

Robin said nothing. His eyes still locked on Crimson Wolf, he bent down blindly and picked up his fallen bo-staff. Finally, he tore his gaze away from the terrorist to look at the weapon. He studied it for a moment...and flung it away.

**SW-SW-SW-SW-SLINKT! **

The weapon turned end over end before imbedding itself into the soft, wet soil like a wind-torn flag post.

Robin stepped forward, reached down and picked up his red and yellow sword. He held it at ready and, with his free hand, motioned Crimson Wolf to come on.

"You want blood?" Crimson Wolf raged, flecks of spittle coming from his mouth. "Then I'll give you all the blood you want! Hruagh!"

He charged and tried for another heavy overswipe with his rod.

Robin sidestepped him, vaulted on one hand and delivered a glancing blow with his good foot before landing dependently on it again.

Crimson Wolf stumbled to the side and, with a snarl, threw a backhand blindly at him. Robin ducked and countered with a lethal, straight thrust of his sword, but Crimson Wolf's torso slithered around it and he delivered a hard back elbow to Robin's face.

Robin fell, slid and rolled back up to his feet. Even before gravity settled down on him again, he had reached into his utility belt, pushed back his cloaking cape and launched a trio of birdarangs.

**SW-SW-SW!  
SW-SW-SW!  
SW-SW-SW! **

Crimson Wolf dove and rolled clear.

Robin flung a fourth birdarang.

**SW-SW-SW-CLINK! **

Crimson Wolf saw it just as he was regaining his footing and was barely able to deflect with his metal rod. The birdarang ricocheted back and left, finally embedding itself into one of the lumber beams that held up part of the play area.

Infuriated, Crimson Wolf rushed him and shot combos of punches and kicks at him. Robin blocked and blocked and blocked and blocked, stepping and hopping back under the physical onslaught.

Finally, Crimson Wolf connected with a clipping strike to the Boy Wonder's jaw. He lifted his flexible leg as high as it would go and brought it barreling down heel first to crush Robin, but instead brought it down into the seat of a toddler's swing. As the villain struggled to free himself, Robin leapt off his good leg, flipped himself over the slick, horizontal bar of the swing set and came back straight down like a missile at Crimson Wolf.

Crimson Wolf freed himself and leapt back before Robin could crush him under his steel-tipped boot. Robin spun, sliced the swing free from the set with his sword and caught the chain in his gloved hand. He flung it, seat and chain and all, squarely at Crimson Wolf.

The terrorist leapt the swing safely. But Robin was already hand vaulting forward. He caught Crimson Wolf in midair with both feet. Crimson Wolf suddenly found himself slammed to the ground with both of Robin's steel-tipped boots pounded into him. The breath whooshed out of his lungs.

But Robin had used both legs for the attack and gut-clenching pain shot through him. He fell as well. The two fighters laid there in the mud, gasping and suffering and trying to pull themselves together. The rain pounded against them, encouraging them to rise, but they stayed down.

For one second.

Two.

Then three-

As one man, they both scrambled to their feet, readied their weapons and faced off again.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"Cover your eyes!"

Commissioner Walker threw something.

**FLAAAAA-BOOM-AAAASH! **

Dozens of black-robed cultists were stunned by the flash grenade. Blindly, they stumbled around on rubbery legs. Commissioner Walker took the opportunity to fell four of them in rapid succession with his nightstick.

**CRACK! CRACK **

**CR-CRACK! **

"Sir!" A young officer shouted a warning from perhaps ten yards away. "Behind you!"

Walker deflected the stone mace aimed at the back of his head while still looking forward. He kicked away one cultist, turned and decked the other one full in the face. He looked over at the officer.

"Thanks, kid!"

The officer merely grinned...and that's the way Commissioner Walker would always remember him.

"Kid, look out!"

**WHU-CRACCK-UMP! **

A cultists caved in his skull from behind with his stone mace. Blood poured sickeningly out of the officer's ears and he was dead before he even hit the ground.

Beast Boy abandoned his tiger form and looked over.

"No!" Walker raged_. "NO!" _

He ripped his 44. Magnum pistol from its holster and leveled it at the killer cultist.

"Commissioner!" Beast Boy yelled out, his hand outstretched. "No!"

But the changeling was too far away to do anything...

**BLAM! SPLORCH! **

The cultist's head exploded in a splash of red gore from the high caliber bullet.

At the sound of the gunshot, the other police officers unholstered their pistols as well and took aim.

"No!" Beast Boy shouted.

Then Cyborg was there, holding up his titanium hands imploringly.

"Wait!"

The officers obeyed. They looked nervously ahead of them at the horde of cultists and then back at their leader, awaiting his command. Walker, for his part, chewed the inside of his cheek and mulled it over, emotion still running turbulently through him. Finally, he turned to his men and shouted-

**SWOOSH! **

The cult army, who had almost reached them again, fell back in surprise. The police officers flinched as well, however, because their guns were suddenly gone.

Commissioner Walker stared incredulously at his now empty hand.

"What the fu-"

**SWOOSH! **

The missing guns suddenly returned to their respective holsters and, standing before them in all his leather-jacketed glory was the one and only Boy of Steel.

"No need to shoot bullets, guys." Superboy told them, grinning. He added in a wink. "Because I'm faster!"

"Bastard kid..." Walker muttered, but he nonetheless turned to his men and shouted: "No guns! Now let's kick ass!"

The officers let out a vocal 'Yes, sir!' that was almost a war cry and the battle continued.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"Prepare to join your mother!"

Slade pounced forward, his metal bo-staff twirling in a blur over his head.

Rose grit her teeth, lifted her rapier and waited for him.

**CLANK! **

She caught his staff with her sword, but Slade was stronger and bigger and the force drove Rose back towards the edge of the roof.

Slade pushed all the harder.

"Submit to me, child."

Rose snarled and answered with a front kick to Slade's chest.

Slade disengaged and stumbled back.

Seeing the opportunity, Rose sprinted forward, leapt and flew through the air with a side kick.

Slade caught her foot, pivoted, spun and flung her hard against the small shed that led down into the building.

**WHAM! **

She somehow fell onto the balls over her feet after smacking the wall. She saw stars...and then Slade's staff barreling at her like a spear.

Her unfocused eyes widened.

CRKKKT!

Rose ducked and the weapon implanted itself in the structure behind her. She flipped over it and landed on the narrow foothold just as Slade was streaking in.

SLASSH!

The rapier flashed wetly and a shallow cut appeared on Slade's left shoulder. He clutched it in surprise and Rose attacked again, this time with a straight thrust. Slade spun around it, dislodged his staff and blocked behind him blindly just in time to deflect another overhand swing of the rapier. Rose kept her weapon locked and tried to add pressure, but Slade was too strong and had the better leverage. He flexed his broad shoulders and back shoved her away.

He turned to her.

"First blood..." He murmured, though he ignored his hurt shoulder. "Impressive, but not good enough!"

Rose growled.

"Stop talking and _die!" _

She rushed him. Before, Rose had been fighting with a controlled fury that fueled her. But now it was out of hand and was her driving force.

And Slade knew it. He sidestepped-

**YANK! **

-and pulled her down viscously by her long, white hair.

"So much to learn..."

He brought his fist back across her face so forcefully that she was sent into a spin.

She landed hard and rolled limply to a stop, her rapier skittering away from her.

"So very much to learn..."

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Crimson Wolf circled slowly around Robin in the rain with his fighting rod in his hand, poised to strike at any second.

"Your strength is leaking out of your wound, just like air from a balloon. How much longer do you really believe you can fight before you collapse in on yourself?"

Robin kept his silence, not even attempting to answer. He grit his teeth and half-stepped and half-hopped from side to side on his bad leg, trying to keep his body as square as possible with Crimson Wolf's as the terrorist stalked him.

"No snappy comeback?" Crimson Wolf verbally jousted him. "No harsh rebuttal? No idealistic tangent concerning justice?"

"..."

"Then perhaps you finally understand. Out here, on the battlefield, there is no need for words. Abstract ideas such as good and evil and justice and god don't exist. Nothing matters except for you and your opponent. The one who survives is the victor. And all you need to survive is skill, strategy and advantage." He suddenly leapt to the left.

Instinctively, Robin gingerly hopped the other direction to keep his body square. But as soon as he saw the Boy Wonder shift his weight, Crimson Wolf flashed back to the right and charged.

Robin tried to get back to his original position and set up his guard, but his injured leg all but gave way beneath him when he tried to push off of it.

**WHACK! **

Crimson Wolf clubbed him to the ground. Robin found himself on his hands and knees, struggling to rise.

"And I have the advantage."

**WHUMP! **

He kicked Robin solidly in the ribs. The young hero flipped, tumbled and rolled limply to a stop. Panting, he slowly made it to his feet.

And Crimson Wolf was in his face, waiting for him.

**WH-WH-WHUMP! WHAM! **

Left jab.

Left elbow.

Right hook.

Spinning back kick.

Robin crash landed in the mud again, bruised and bloody. And almost before he stopped sliding, Crimson Wolf had lifted him up by the front of uniform until they were face

"Hmph," he grunted in contempt. "You don't have anything left."

"Yeah?" Robin finally spoke. He coughed. "T-tell me that in three seconds!"

Crimson Wolf blinked and quickly looked down at the circular device on his chest with the large T emblem on it. In a hurry, he released Robin, grabbed the disc and threw it to the ground...

But not far enough away.

**SCHINNNNG! **

Solid ice enveloped his leg all the way up to the hip. Crimson Wolf tried to step forward, but he couldn't bend his knee. His leg was now useless. And revenge is sweet.

Robin leapt at him, revigored.

"Raugh!"

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

**SWOOSH! **

Brother Blood streaked across the city on a roaring wind current.

**SWOOSH! **

Bard zoomed after him, less than ten feet behind.

Brother Blood zigzagged around buildings and down alleyways, but he couldn't gain any distance over his assailant.

"Stop being a coward, Sebastion!" Bard bellowed up to him. "Stop and fight me!"

Brother Blood flew backwards to answer.

"But Holy Bard!" He exclaimed in mock piety. "What about 'turn the other cheek'?"

That move proved to be a mistake. Infuriated, Bard snarled and somehow sped up even faster. He flew up over Brother Blood, laced his metal knuckled fists together over his head and smashed them down with all the strength he could muster on the cult leader's chest.

And damned if it didn't feel _GOOD_.

Brother Blood spiraled down like a gunned down jet, looking for all the world as if Superman himself had just walloped him. He smashed down on a gravel-covered roof. Rock shot up like a solid geyser upon impact.

Bard zoomed straight down in a kamikaze dive, one fist covered in fire and the other in a jagged glove of solid ice. He struck with bone-shattering force...where Brother Blood had been laying prone a split second before.

**CRRRRRRRACK! **

Gravel erupted up again, but this time it was accompanied by small chunks of concrete and shards of broken ice. Some cut Bard's face but, just as he'd been all night, he didn't care. There was only Brother Blood.

"Are you satisfied now?" Brother Blood smirked, floating above him. He turned, straightened his shoulders and flew off.

**SWOOSH! **

"No," Bard answered to the empty air, grounding his teeth in frustration together. "Because you're not dead yet..."

**SWOOSH! **

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Slade took his time in walking up to the downed Ravager, slowly and absently twirling his bo-staff. Just as he reached her, she suddenly returned to life and sprung into action.

Rose vaulted up to her hands, stuck her legs straight out in a one hundred eighty degree angle and spun, hoping to catch her father off-guard and kick him away.

But Slade easily, almost lazily, grabbed her by the ankle with one hand and tossed her away. Rose flipped, righted herself in midair and landed in a crouch.

"A word of advice, child." Slade instructed her. "If you wish to play dead...keep your eyes closed. Or, better yet, wear a mask."

"..."

"Actually," Slade continued. "Your mask is well-made. It leaves the breathing passage clear and hides your biggest weakness: Your eyes. Those big blue eyes of yours are like a window into your thoughts. And as soon as you feel doubt or fear or fatigue...they expose you. However, the red, pseudo eyes of your mask are intimidating and emotionless. You should wear it at all times."

"Stop telling me what to do!"

"But that is my job, Rose. As your father, I am to guide and instruct you." He paused. "You need me, Rose. Your efforts thus far have been admirable, but there is only so much you can do on your own-"

"_SHUT UP!"_ She charged and lead with her right fist.

Slade easily caught her by the wrist and painfully wrenched her arm behind her back. He leaned over her shoulder, whispering.

"You fight with your emotions, child. They are powerful weapons...but also erratic. If you live and die by them...you will die a very young woman."

"Rrrraugh! You're gonna die _now!"_ With insane flexibility, she kicked straight up over her shoulder and smashed the end of her boot into Slade's face.

**WHAM! **

Slade dropped his bo-staff and stumbled back. Rose had dropped her rapier earlier, so she rushed him unarmed.

She leapt forward with a speedy, flying side kick.

Slade blocked with his forearms crossed and retaliated with a high, front kick.

Rose ducked under it by performing a split. She rolled back, hand vaulted and drove both of her feet into Slade's face.

Slade stumbled back again.

Rose completed her backflip ran forward and zoomed through the air with a soaring bird kick that connected solidly in the chest.

Slade went down hard.

"A word of advice:" Rose said mockingly. "If you want to hold someone from behind, make sure you put the crown of your head into the base of their neck. If you don't, as you just saw, your head will be exposed for an attack."

Slade rose to his feet, growling deep in his throat.

"Careful," Rose warned him. "Emotions are erratic, right? If you live and die by them, you will die...a middle-aged man."

Slade fumed.

And Rose smirked, feeling better than she ever had before.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Bard jerked to a stop in midair, floating on wind. He looked left and right and all around. He spun slowly, trying to pierce the cold rain and fog with his vision...but with no luck.

He had lost Brother Blood.

How in the _HELL_ could he have lost Brother Blood?

"God damn it!" He raged uncharacteristically.

"Don't you remember what the bible says about taking the lord's name in vain?" Brother Blood's voice drifted up from street level.

Bard descended through the fog and landed on the sidewalk in a flash, but Brother Blood was gone. The door to an old, two-story building was left open, though; an invitation in and of itself.

He took it.

It felt good to be out of the rain, but he barely acknowledged that, nor the fact he was soaked to the bone. The building was one big room, easily built for storage. Boxes and crate lay everywhere and a catwalk circle the area of the building perhaps twenty feet off the main floor.

Brother Blood stood on the catwalk, looking down at Bard. The cowboy was filled with rage, but he wasn't stupid.

"Why did you bring me here, Sebastion?"

"I left something here I wanted to show you." Brother Blood told him. "This _is_ a storage building, after all."

"..."

Brother Blood reached down behind and pulled something up roughly.

Bard gasped.

"I'm sorry, Jonny..."

Amber was alive.


	91. Final Verse, Part Nine

_"A colorful group of teenage freaks living in a tower shaped like a giant 'T'. Fighting for truth, justice and the last piece of pizza...Captures the imagination, doesn't it? But, in the end, it won't matter. Because, in the end, imagination dies."- Crimson Wolf_

_**CHAPTER NINETY ONE  
FINAL VERSE, PART NINE **_

Raven sat alone on the cold floor of the dark building. The throne-like chair that seemed to be a necessary characteristic of all of Slade's bases sat lonely and forlorn behind her. This is where Slade had told her to wait for him...and she had obeyed.

And it made her sick. She never wanted to obey Slade, but she felt she had no choice. If she didn't cooperate, Slade would bring death and destruction down on the city.

Raven knew what he wanted: He wanted her to release Trigon. And while that was just as bad, or perhaps worse, than what Slade was threatening her with, she trusted her friends to take care of him...her. But, most of all, she trusted Bard.

Despite her constant objection to the contrary, she suddenly believed that Bard _could_ take down Trigon. How he would do it, or why she suddenly believed he could...she didn't know.

All of the waiting was unbearable, so Raven decided to release Trigon now, not on Slade's timetable. It was one last, tiny defiance, but it was all she had available to her. She closed her eyes and began to meditate.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos..."

She floated.

And then she sank into herself...

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Robin leapt off his good leg at Crimson Wolf, whose leg, now encased in ice, was as equally useless at the Boy Wonder's.

**WHAM! **

Crimson Wolf flinched from Robin's straight right punch. He landed, stood on one hand and delivered an uppercut with his boot.

Crimson Wolf stumbled back woodenly and bumped back first into a tall tree. He quickly reoriented himself and somehow sent out a straight-legged, roundhouse kick with his frozen appendage. Robin ducked but there was no need.

Crimson Wolf wasn't aiming at him.

He was aiming solely for the tree.

**KRR-IICK! **

The ice surrounding his leg cracked, shattered and fell away as cold rubble. Robin rushed forward as fast as he could, but Crimson Wolf was waiting for him.

_GRIP! _

Robin spluttered as Crimson Wolf tightened his one-handed grip around his throat.

"Good try, Robin."

Crimson Wolf squeezed harder.

Robin gasped for air.

"But not good _enough!" _

**WHAM! **

Crimson Wolf kicked him violently to the wet earth. But, even as he did, he reached out and snatched away Robin's utility belt.

"No more tricks for you, boy." He flung the belt behind him.

Meanwhile, Robin lay face-first in a large mud puddle, his nose and mouth submerged. He weakly pushed himself up and took in a meager breath before-

**STOMP! **

Crimson Wolf jumped on him, again forcing him down into the water. He dug his heels viscously into the small of Robin's back and simply stood there.

For one moment.

Robin thrashed about his arms and legs.

For two moments.

Robin's fighting became pitiful and sluggish.

For three moments.

Robin's squirming efforts turned to almost nothing. He started go limp-

Crimson Wolf finally stepped off of him. With the last of his strength, Robin pushed himself up, desperately trying to cough the muddy water out of his lungs and fill them with air at the same time.

**STOMP! **

Crimson Wolf's foot came down on Robin's elbow this time, bones and cartilage creaking and cracking in painful protest. The terrorist reached down and pulled off Robin's glove.

Robin blinked back his tears of pain and tried to focus.

"W-what are you-"

**STOMP! **

The other elbow.

Crimson Wolf removed Robin's other glove and put them on himself, smirking.

"This is going to be fun..."

He put the tip of his electric rod into the puddle.

Robin's eye slits widened-

**ZHTZZZZHZZZHTTTTT! **

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Slade's bo-staff and Rose's rapier lay meek and lonely on the rooftop, drowning in the rain.

Forgotten.

"Raugh!"

**WHAP! WHAP! WHAP! **

Slade blocked three front kick in quick succession with his gauntleted forearm.

Rose finally submitted to gravity and landed back on the roof.

Slade swung a quick, powerful fist.

Rose ducked the punch and, in the same motion, stood herself up on one hand. She spun her body, whipped her leg around and kicked Slade with the back of her heel.

Slade turned to absorb the blow and retaliated immediately with a leg sweep that connected just as Rose was regaining her footing.

As soon as her back hit the ground, Rose instinctively bent her arms behind her head and kick flipped back to her feet.

But before she could even get her balance, Slade grabbed her hair from behind and roughly jerked her right back down. He knelt down as he did so and the back of Rose's head smashed sickeningly into his knee. He finished by dispassionately kicking Rose in the side, sending her tumbling and rolling across the roof.

"Long hair is nothing but a handle to your head." Slade instructed, his voice coming up to Rose from behind. "And, as you can see, if you control the head of your opponent, you control his body. You should cut your hair...or wear a helmet."

But Rose barely heard her father. Her attention was drawn by something else at that moment: Slade's bo-staff that lay beside her. She grabbed it, leapt to her feet and erupted at Slade like a ghostly banshee, hell-bent on wreaking her vengeance down upon him.

"Hraugh!"

Slade ducked under her spinning, horizontal swipe.

Rose, her back not facing towards Slade, jabbed blindly behind her. The butt of the staff buried itself into Slade's lower abdomen.

"Oof!"

The air was forcibly pushed out of Slade's lungs until it finally escaped through the three mouth slits on his helmet.

Rose lowered her elbow, locked the bo-staff in place and spun around. The other end of the staff arced and smacked hard against the side of Slade's head.

Slade was flung away from the tremendous force. He rolled, rolled, rolled and finally found his way to his feet. A crack appeared down the left side of his mask.

Rose twirled the bo-staff and rushed forward.

Slade waited.

Rose stomped at him with purpose.

Slade waited.

Rose leapt and reared back the bo-staff for a massive blow.

Slade stomped down with his foot and Rose's rapier leapt into the air. He snatched the twirling weapon out of the air and held it up just in time to catch Rose's attack.

**CLANK! **

Holding the bo-staff at bay, Slade leaned back and unleashed a straight, forward kick.

Rose was sent skidding backwards from the blow, but she somehow kept her feet under her.

Slade quickly advance on her, the silver rapier flashing and cutting through the wet air.

Rose stomped forward to meet him halfway. But just before she reached him, she stabbed the top of her staff into the ground, jumped, pushed off on the rod and pole-vaulted high over Slade's head.

Slade turned.

Rose turned and swiped at his legs.

Slade agilely leapt over the bo-staff.

Rose jabbed forward with it, aiming directly at the open gash on Slade's shoulder.

"Arrrrrgh!"

He let out a gargling yell of pain as the tip of the bo-staff penetrated his skin. Half staggering, he instinctively gripped the offending weapon and brusquely pushed Rose away.

Sensing the advantage, Rose spun and blindly charged, the bo-staff in her hands poised to strike...

But Slade, still holding the glinting rapier, had already performed a _STRAIGHT THRUST_.

**CCHLINKTTT! **

Time froze as lighting streaked beside them, silhouetting their forms.

Rose's body was poised for a bo-staff attack that would never connect.

Slade's body was in a fencer's pose.

And the rapier...

Was embedded...

In Rose's head.

She opened her mouth and howled out a bloodcurdling scream.

The staff fell from her hand.

She fell, lying a pool of her own blood.

"Hmm," Slade's voice was the last thing she heard before she passed out. "You're becoming more and more like your father everyday..."

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"_AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" _

Blue electricity arced back and forth across the large puddle lying in the orphanage playground and, ultimately, through Robin's body. Every one of the Boy Wonder's nerve endings were aflame and screaming in terrible pain. Every inch of his body wept and shuddered under the torture.

Crimson Wolf withdrew his electric rod from the puddle, momentarily putting a stop to his torture of the young man.

"Tell me, Robin: Did you know it would end this way? Did your idealistic mind even think it _possible_ for your death to come from the hands of the criminals you've sworn to vanquish? It's terribly ironic, don't you think?"

"..." Robin shuddered.

"It's not ironic, Robin. It's _inevitable_." Crimson Wolf gave him a quick shock to emphasize that before continuing. "Make no mistake about it: I _will_ kill you tonight. But, even if I didn't, it would only be a matter of time. Slade or Brother Blood or perhaps even Jinx would catch you alone some night and best you...and it would be over."

Robin shook, unable to do anything.

Completely helpless.

"A colorful group of teenage freaks living in a tower shaped like a giant 'T'." Crimson Wolf mused. "Fighting for truth, justice and the last piece of pizza...Captures the imagination, doesn't it? But, in the end, it won't matter. Because, in the end, imagination dies. The false, colorful fantasy of it all will be drowned by true, gray reality. Once you're gone, you will be nothing but a distant memory. Perhaps, years from now, one man will say to another 'Remember Robin?'. And they'll proceed to fabricate stories on how your heroics were nothing but a front for a large-scale narcotics business or how you and the other Titans used to have drunken orgies at night. Not because they believe them to be true, you understand, but to give your existence logic and _meaning_ in their cynical eyes. When you leave this world, Robin, no one will care. The citizens of this city won't care. Nor even your mentor in Gotham City. Because every bird must someday die and no...one..._CARES_."

"I care!"

The voice that called out was small and high-pitched and frightened, but it also reverberated with stubborn conviction and, must of all, unbridled passion.

It was the clear, ringing voice of a child.

Bridget stood small and diminutive in the rain, perhaps ten yards away, her pajamas her only protection from the cold.

Robin struggled to raise his naked, gloveless hand.

"N-no..." He somehow forced out.

"Stop hurting Robin!" Bridget continued to rail at Crimson Wolf. "Leave him alone!"

"Oh?" The terrorist seemed amused. "And what will you do if I don't?"

Bridget bit her bottom lip and said nothing.

Crimson Wolf smiled.

"As I thought..." He turned back to Robin-

"Take _this_!"

Holly sprung out of nowhere and leapt at Crimson Wolf. Her fist, reared back for a mighty blow, was covered with the brass knuckles she'd used previously for her Bard costume.

The blow never landed.

Crimson Wolf caught her petite fist easily and kicked her hard in the gut. The air whooshed out of her lungs and she would have fallen had Crimson Wolf not held her up. He yanked down hard on Holly's arm, turned and flung her away. She slid through the mud and banged hard against the side of a wooden playhouse. She clutched her dislocated arm, sniffling and crying.

The sound of her weeping lit a fire under Robin. He forced himself to his feet and, with blurry, faded vision, advanced on Crimson Wolf.

**GRIP! **

The terrorist grabbed him by the throat and all the energy deflated from his body.

"You're pathetic, Robin." Crimson Wolf snarled, forcing him back. "You are a hero; a supposed legend. Trained by the famous Batman of Gotham City. And now here you are: Helpless. So utterly helpless that two little girls must come to your rescue. Two _children_. What am I saying? You're nothing but a child, too."

He picked up his knife from the ground and twirled it in his free hand.

"All hope is lost, Robin. If you don't realize it yet, you will the split second before my knife pierces your heart. Any last words, Boy Wonder?"

Robin coughed, blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth. He looked over Crimson Wolf's shoulder and suddenly spit in his face.

"You talk too much."

"Rrrragh!"

Crimson Wolf stabbed with the knife.

Robin, with the last of his strength, brought his feet up and kicked him hard.

Crimson Wolf stumbled back into the side of a play area. His face full of rage, he moved to attack Robin again...

But he couldn't.

Slowly, inevitable, the villain looked down...

And saw the tip of a forgotten birdarang emerging from his chest.

"You...you...you..."

Crimson Wolf exhaled for the last time and crumpled forward, even as Robin did the same.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

The army of cultists was like a huge black sea, the waves crashing against the shore of Cyborg, Beast Boy, Superboy and Walker's men.

**WHUMP! **

Commissioner Walker clubbed a cultist to the ground with his nightstick. Another cultist leapt at his vulnerable back-

**SWOOSH! **

Superboy grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and effortlessly tossed him away.

The Boy of Steel grinned at him.

"I guess you owe me one-"

**WHUMP! **

Walker felled a cultist that was about to attack _him_.

Superboy blinked.

"I don't owe you _SHIT_."

Superboy just shrugged and continued fighting.

Not far away was Beast Boy. In the form of a stegosaurus, he allowed the police officers to use his armored boy as mobile cover.

Cyborg was finally forced to use his sonic cannon. He brought it out with the familiar mechanical clacking, took aim and fired right into the heart of the army before him.

**WHURRRRR! **

The blue beam cut a swath deep into the ranks of the horde, but that path disappeared just as quickly when the other cultists advanced to close and fill it.

Until...

Cyborg looked as far as he could see and thought he saw a cultist deep in their ranks of the army fly up and away for no apparent reason.

"What the...?"

Then another.

And another.

And yet another.

Tim, with his head down, was barreling through the army like a giant-sized football player. He finally reached the front lines and skidded sideways to a stop, panting.

"F-figured ya'll might need a little help..." Still panting and leaning forward on his knees, Tim negligently backsmacked an attacker away.

"Tim! What are you-" Cyborg stopped and stared at him.

His button-down police shirt was long gone and the white shirt underneath was half red from the blood that leaked from the gunshot wound in his shoulder. Tim had tied a strip of the police shirt around the hole, and most of the bleeding had stopped.

"Tim, you're hurt, man! You need-"

"Commissioner! _COMMISSIONER!" _

They turned to see a haggard police officer stumble up to Walker.

"Commissioner! We have a BIG problem!"

**WHUMP! **

"Well, spit it out! What the hell is it?"

"T-the other army! It's advancing on our rear!"

Walker went bug-eyed.

"_WHAT?" _

"They're marching this way. In ten minutes, we'll be trapped!"

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Amber was alive and it froze Bard in his tracks.

At first, he was shocked. He couldn't believe it. But there she was, right in front of him.

Next, of course, came the joy. Amber was _ALIVE! _

"Amber!" He called up to her. "Are you all right?"

She hesitantly nodded.

And finally, for Bard, came the suspicion.

"What are you aiming at, Sebastion?"

"Right to the heart of the matter, as always." Brother Blood smiled. "Then I'll do the same: I want the cross pendant. Amber told me you have it and, thus, I led your here to propose a simple trade. You give me the cross pendant and I give you your beloved Amber. We both get what we want. It's as simple as that."

"But I don't have the cross pendant." Bard confessed without thinking.

"Thou shalt not lie, Bard. I'm disappointed in you." He paused and turned to Amber. "Unless, of course, you're not the one who lied..."

"All right!" Bard said quickly. "A-all right! I'll...I'll give you the cross pendant. Just don't hurt her!"

Brother Blood stood there on the catwalk expectantly.

Bard hesitated, unsure of what to do.

"What are you waiting for?" Brother Blood asked him. "I know you don't cherish the necklace more than Amber; You don't cherish _anything_ over Raven and Amber. I KNOW." He tapped the side of his head. "Your memories, your thoughts, all in here. So why haven't you handed it over yet?"

Brother Blood's eyes widened.

"You really don't have it?"

Bard was already streaking at him. Brother Blood flipped out of the way and lunged for Amber, but Bard somehow changed his trajectory and plowed into his side just before he reached her. Entangled, the two fell off the catwalk and down towards the crates below. Brother Blood broke Bard's grip and repositioned himself in midair. He kicked off Bard and landed safely in a sliding crouch while Bard-

**CRASH! **

-smashed into the crates.

Brother Blood stood up straight, dusted himself and looked up-

"_RAUGH!" _Bard erupted from the pile of crates and flew at him, electricity arcing along his metal knuckles.

Brother Blood merely sidestepped him.

Bard skidded to a stop.

"Where is it?" Brother Blood demanded. "Where's the cross pendant? You _WILL_ tell me!"

Bard smiled grimly at him, tightening his fists.

"Come and beat it out of me..."

Brother Blood snarled and charged...

Right into Bard heavy, overhand punch.

**SMACK! **

Brother Blood, his eyes glazed, stumbled back on rubbery legs.

Bard advanced, swinging for all he was worth.

**SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! **

The cowboy fought with all the pent up emotion he'd felt since...it seemed like forever. He finished the combo with an electrified uppercut.

**ZHHHHHH-WHAM! **

Smoking, Brother Blood ragdolled through the air and splintered into old, wooden crates.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Raven sank into her mind.

The darkest, forbidden part of it.

Where _HE_ resided.

It seemed to Raven as if she were in a cave, infinitely deep. The only source of light was the red rocks that seemed to have an intense, fireless heat.

"**I KNEW YOU WOULD COME." **

Raven said nothing as her father approached, red and hulking.

**"HAVE YOU FINALLY ACCEPTED YOUR DESTINY, CHILD?" **

Still, Raven said nothing.

**"HAVE YOU COME TO SUBMIT?" **

"I...I have."

Trigon smiled, cruel and sick. He reached out his massive hand towards Raven-

**SHING! **

A shield of black shot up around Raven. She was as surprised as her father.

**"YOU SAY YOU SUBMIT, BUT THERE IS A PART OF YOU THAT STILL RESISTS."** Trigon snarled, but then his glowing yellow eyes narrowed**. "IT MATTER NOT. YOU WILL BE MINE!" **

He pushed against the obsidian shield...

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

With Brother Blood disposed of, Bard flew up to the catwalk to Amber.

"Amber, are you okay?"

She hesitantly nodded.

"Y-yeah..." She suddenly smiled, and it warmed Bard's heart. "Now that you're here!"

Amber was smiling, her face glowing with radiance. Her light blue eyes twinkled. She was the very epitome of love and adoration.

Bard would always remember her thus.

"Bard, look out!"

Before he could react, Amber pushed him out of the way.

**SLINKKKT! **

The splintered piece of wood flew by him like a missile...and through Amber's chest.

"_**NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" **_

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

**FLASH! **

_Blood. _

_Red and flowing _

_Blood. _

_Sticky and spilt. _

_Blood. _

_Thick and oozing. _

_Blood. _

_"J-on-ny..." _

**FLASH! **

Raven's eyes widened and she shuddered.

**CHIIIIIIN-PHOMB!**


	92. Final Verse Part Ten

_"If it makes you feel better, Jonny, I know exactly how you feel..." - Brother Blood_

_**CHAPTER NINETY TWO  
FINAL VERSE, PART TEN **_

The rain continued to pour down.

The rain poured down on the orphanage playground. On Crimson Wolf's corpse. On Bridget and Holly, her arm limp at her side while they were trying to revive Robin.

The rain poured down on Rose's face down figure, her blood diluting in the rainwater.

The rain poured down on the skyscraper roof where Starfire had been attacked. She twitched involuntarily in her fetal position, but did not wake up.

The rain poured down on Cyborg and Beast Boy and Superboy and the others members of their scanty resistance, about to be trapped by a pair of armies.

The rain poured down as Bard knelt sorrowfully beside a bloody Amber. She whispered something to him and then her head fell back listlessly. She glowed a bright, golden yellow. Brighter and brighter and brighter until-

**FLASH! **

Amber disappeared and, left behind, was the cross pendant necklace. Brother Blood, standing across the warehouse from them, gasped, his eyes burning with fanatical zeal.

The rain poured down, beating down on the dark city and drowning the remaining embers of what was left of the hospital.

And then...the rain stopped. Suddenly. Like a bucket emptied of water, the last raindrops hit weakly and were not followed.

And the earth-shattering voice called out:

**"I...AM...FREEEEEEE!" **

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"Robin! Wake up, Robin!" Bridget, on her knees in the mud, pulled desperately at the Boy Wonder's cape, trying to rouse him.

Holly, for her part, sat on the other side of them, saying nothing. Her arm dangled at her side, and she clutched her shoulder with her free hand.

"C'mon, Robin! We need you! Open your eyes!"

Holly shook her head and looked away.

"It's no use." She told her. "He's gone."

Heedless, Bridget continued to shake him.

"Did you hear me?" Holly said. "He's gone. He's _dead_."

Bridget tried one last time but, when Robin still didn't move, she stopped her prodding. She sniffled and hiccuped back sobs. Holly had no emotional energy left to try to comfort her. She bowed her head and hugged herself with her uninjured arm.

Silence fell between them.

"You are mistaken." A voice told them.

Both Holly and Bridget looked up to see a white-robed girl stately march up to them.

"Are you an angel?" Bridget gasped.

Holly, the more cynical of the two, quickly pushed that aside.

"Who are you?"

"I am no angel." Zillah told them calmly. "But I am a friend. One who wishes to help."

"What did you mean before?" Holly wanted to know. "About us being mistaken?"

"Robin is not dead."

Without another word, Zillah knelt down by the fallen hero. Holly watched her suspiciously, but Bridget's face shone with hope and trust.

Zillah cradled Robin's head and reached into her white robe. She brought out a glass vial of clear liquid and gently poured it down his throat. Robin's body coughed and tried to expel the foreign substance, but then it gave in and he swallowed it down.

Robin blinked and slowly sat up.

"Z-Zillah?" He blinked at her behind his eye mask. "What was that?"

"A gift from my master." She stood up. "You cannot leave this world yet. The final battle begins."

**ZHHHHHHT! **

Holly and Bridget were suddenly left alone.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

**ZHHHHHT! **

Alone, Zillah knelt down to Starfire's side and poured the clear liquid quaff down her throat.

Starfire coughed, spluttered and finally swallowed. Her emerald eyes opened, staring dazedly up at Zillah.

"What-"

"Hush now," Zillah smiled gently.

**ZHHHHTTTTT! **

They disappeared.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

When Rose awoke, she found herself lying in a pool of her own blood. Her head hurt terribly. It reverberated with a dull, flaming pain that felt as if someone has drilled into her brain with a power tool...

And, for all intents and purposes, someone _had_.

Her vision was blurry and one-sided and, deep down, she already knew.

Her left eye was gone. Horrifically, she brought a trembling hand up to it. All she felt was slick blood, oozing down her cheek.

"Drink this."

Rose looked up with her one eye and saw Zillah standing before her.

"You..."

"Drink this." Zillah repeated. She held the vial out to her.

Rose looked at it suspiciously and said nothing.

"It is medicine." Zillah explained. "It will relieve your pain."

Rose turned away.

"If you drink this, Slade will die."

_That _got Rose's attention. She turned back to her.

"What?"

"Drink this and, by sunrise, Slade will die before you."

"..." Rose took the vial from her and drank.

"Very good." Zillah approved.

Rose ignored her. She reached down, ripped off the bottom part of her legging and tied it around the gaping hole where her left eye used to be to stem the bleeding. Then, grimly, she lowered her mask over the evidence.

She faced Zillah.

"I'm ready."

Zillah nodded and-

**ZHHHHHT! **

-they were gone.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Commissioner Walker, Tim, Cyborg and Superboy stood in a circle behind the police car barricade for an impromptu meeting. Beast Boy, the last join, ran up to them panting.

"We gotta make this quick!" He told them. He pointed at the battle. "They're not gonna last long without us!"

"I'm worried how long _all_ of our asses are gonna last." Walker told him. He looked at all of them seriously. "There's another army on the way here from the opposite side. Intel has'em as gang members. Mostly teenagers. They're _heavily_ armed."

Beast Boy's face blanched.

"W-with maces...right?" He asked weakly.

"You wish, kid. Everything from fucking pistols to machine guns to rifles."

"Are you sure?" Cyborg cut in.

"Yeah," Tim drawled, unconsciously grasping his shoulder. "I'm pretty damn sure."

"The point is," Commissioner Walker went on. "Is that we're gonna be surrounded in about five minutes. Any brilliant ass plans?"

Superboy opened his mouth-

**ZHHHHHHT! **

He, Cyborg and Beast Boy had vanished.

Commissioner Walker looked this way and that quickly, bewildered. Finally, he manfully folded his arms across his chest.

"Wish the fuck I could do that right now..."

Tim could do nothing but agree.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Slade walked in to the main, darkened floor of his lair. He was a man of shadows and the old but efficient building fit him perfectly. He walked in flawless solitude, the darkness smothering any sound his passage made and respectively embracing his form. He unclipped a radio from his belt.

"Jinx, Kitten," he called into its receiver. "Where are you?"

"We're approaching the base now." Came Jinx's reply.

"Good." Slade's approval sounded pleased. "Excellent. Come see me immediately when you arrive."

"Yes, sir."

Slade pushed a button on the radio and changed the frequency.

"Blue," he called him to attention. "Give me your report so far."

"The police station belongs to us now." Blue stated. "As you predicted, there was hardly a resistance at all."

"Good," Slade nodded out of habit. "Where are you now?"

"We're advancing on the commissioner's rear. ETA is about five minutes."

"Estimated time of completion?"

"It's hard to say exactly. The commissioner doesn't have a lot of men, but there are several Titans with him."

"Take them out if necessary, but remember that Commissioner Walker and his men are our primary objective."

"Yes, sir, Mr. S."

Slade breathed in deeply, closed his eye and tilted his head upwards. His plans were going perfectly. PERFECTLY. Now all he had to do was take the cross pendant from Brother Blood and make sure Raven didn't try anything foolish. He tucked his radio back into his belt and approached his throne-like chair from behind...

And stopped.

"Raven?"

No answer.

"Raven?"

**"NOT ANYMORE." **

Slade immediately broke out into a cold sweat. The being that was once Raven sat on the throne-like seat, his back to Slade and his figure obscured in shadow. The criminal, hardened as he was, admitted he was silently thankful for that.

**"YOU ARE THE ONE THEY CALL SLADE. RAVEN HAS SPENT MUCH MENTAL ENERGY PONDERING YOUR IDENTITY. ARE YOU ROBIN'S FATHER? OR DO YOU SIMPLY WISH TO BE?" **

Slade said nothing.

**"I BELIEVE THE LATTER. RAVEN PERCEIVES YOU AS PURE EVIL, SECOND ONLY TO ME, BUT I KNOW THE TRUTH. WHEN ADELINE TOOK YOUR EYE, SHE ALSO TOOK YOUR FAMILY ALONG WITH IT." **

Slade gasped from beneath his mask.

**"THAT IS WHY YOU ATTEMPTED TO COERCE ROBIN TO JOIN YOU. AND TERRA AS WELL. YOU DID NOT WANT APPRENTICES...YOU WANTED A SON AND A DAUGHTER. YOU WANTED A FAMILY." **

Slade clenched his gauntleted fists in rage.

Just then, Jinx and Kitten entered the room. They approached Slade, but stopped upon seeing Raven's altered form.

**"THESE ARE YOUR NEW DAUGHTERS? HMPH. THEY ARE NOTHING BUT CONSOLATION. YOU KNOW THEY CANNOT FILL THE VOID IN YOUR HEART, SLADE, YET YOU KEEP THEM ANYWAY. YOU, THE 'MIGHTY' AND 'EVIL' SLADE, GIVES IN TO HUMANITY'S SILLIEST EMOTION: HOPE. YOU ARE PATHETIC." **

"...You know I made it possible for you to escape your host body; to free yourself from the prison Raven constructed around you."

**"I AM AWARE. AND I AM GRATEFUL. WHAT IS IT YOU WISH IN RETURN FOR YOUR SERVICE?" **

Slade didn't reply. His posture was a poise of absolute calm, but his hands tightened and untightened anxiously.

**"WELL?"** Trigon prompted him. "**SURELY YOU WANT MORE THAN MY GRATITUDE...AND MY MERCY." **

Again Slade hesitated. He looked sidelong at Jinx and made eye contact. The young witch, after a moment, fearfully nodded.

"You're right." Slade finally replied. "I care not for your gratitude...or your mercy. All I want...is your power!"

Trigon laughed then. His guttural gafols lacked humor and only contained harshness and cruelty and blackness. Finishing, he half-turned his head and leaned to the side to gaze upon them. Slade, Jinx and Kitten could all feel the single visible, yellow emblazoned eye piercing right into their very souls.

**"YOU WISH TO TAKE MY POWER?"** He stood up and stepped out of the shadows to face them.

Kitten looked away quickly, unable to make herself look at him. Jinx somehow kept her face square and pointing forward, but she couldn't force herself to lift her eyes to his face. Slade was the only one to meet Trigon's gaze...and flinched despite himself.

**"IF YOU DESIRE MY POWER, COME AND TAKE IT...IF YOU CAN."** Trigon held out his two powerful arms in a pose that was supposed to convey vulnerability.

It didn't.

Trigon opened his razor-toothed muzzle to prompt him again-

"Jinx!" Slade barked out suddenly. "Now!"

"Haa!"

Jinx thrust out both her hands, her teeth grit. Glowing pink energy emanated from her hands and seeped from her eyes. The air crackled from the incredible power of it. The bright power surrounded Trigon's hulking red body and inexorably pushed inwardly. Enclosing him. Crushingly so.

Trigon's malicious yellow eyes widened in shock and disbelief. His shoulders shook, trying to bear the extreme pressure.

Jinx strained and scrunched her eyes closed tightly.

Trigon's body shook and shuddered.

Jinx sweat.

Finally, after what felt like forever, Trigon was stubbornly forced down to one knee. He lowered his chin, closing his eyes as he concentrated to fight back against the hex power.

Slade leaned forward, his single eye wide with horrible anticipation...

**"HEHEHEHE...HAHAHAH...**_**HAHAHAHAH!" **_

Trigon laughed. He stood up easily as Jinx and Slade watched in disbelief. He winked at Jinx, who shuddered, and-

**CHINNG! **

The pink hex energy surrounding Trigon solidified and exploded outward like glass. Slade and Jinx crouched and covered themselves.

Kitten was too frightened to react. One shard sliced deeply into her body and she fell bloodily to the floor.

"Kitten!" Slade yelled out.

**"SILENCE!"** Trigon commanded. All thoughts concerning his 'daughter' vanished from Slade's mind when he saw Trigon's wrathful, burning eyes. "**HOW DARE YOU CHALLENGE ME? YOU ARE NOTHING!" **

"I'll show you 'nothing'..."

Slade charged.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Amber was dead. Though, through his grief, Bard faithfully knew in his heart where her soul resided, Amber's body was gone. Her fleshy husk had ceased to exist and all she left behind was the glittering cross pendant necklace that lay meekly on the catwalk.

"If it makes you feel better, Jonny." Brother Blood suggested, walking up to him. "I know _exactly_ how you feel..."

Bard's blurred vision turned red. Every muscle in his body grew taut and shuddered. His hands clenched into fists and unbearably hot flames surrounded them-

**ZHHHTTTT! **

Zillah laid a comforting hand on Bard's shoulder.

"Your destiny is upon us." She told him gently. "Set aside your grief and embrace it." She looked up at the shocked Brother Blood. "Consider this my last service to you."

His tears making his eyes blurry, Bard reached blindly for the cross pendant.

Brother Blood dove for it, his cape fluttering.

ZHHHHHTTTT!

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Slade charged.

Trigon stood still, waiting.

**STOMP! STOMP! STOMP! STOMP! **

Slade leapt, spun, popped his hip and kicked Trigon with devastating force; a force devastating enough to cave in a normal man's chest cavity.

Trigon merely staggered back a step or two, no worse for the wear.

"Hah!" Slade followed up, arcing his metal-clad fist at him.

**GRIP! **

Trigon caught it easily, measured Slade nonchalantly and powerfully backsmacked him away.

**WHAP! **

Slade slid twenty feet across the room and smashed hard into a wall, cracking the mortar. He looked up.

"J-Jinx...attack!"

The witch eyed Trigon warily.

"That was an order. _Attack!" _

Jinx trembled...trembled...trembled...

And sprinted away.

**"AND YOU CALL HER YOUR DAUGHTER?"** Trigon laughed once again.

Slade grunted in fury and jumped back up to his feet. He rushed Trigon with his fist reared back.

**GRIP! **

Trigon caught it effortlessly in one hand...and twisted it.

**CRACK! **

The sound of the bone in Slade's forearm breaking resounded like a gunshot. The jagged bone broke through the skin. Slade screamed shortly and was forced immediately to his knees.

**"YOU ARE PATHETIC."** Trigon snarled before his face suddenly contorted into a sickening grin.

**"HOWEVER, I MUST THANK YOU. IT HAS BEEN SO VERY...VERY...LONG SINCE I HAVE TASTED THE SWEET BITTERNESS OF BLOOD..." **

**ZHHHHTTTT! **

Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, Bard, Rose, Superboy, Beast Boy and Brother Blood appeared on the far side of the large room.

Trigon ignored them.

**FLASH! **

_Trigon drew back his free, clawed hand. _

_Slade's single eye widened in fear. _

**FLASH! **

Rose shook her disoriented head and looked up.

Trigon drew back his free, clawed hand.

Slade's single eye widened in fear.

**SLASHHHHHHHH! **

Arterial blood splurted from Slade's shredded throat and splashed thickly on Trigon's chest and face. His dead, bloody flesh fell without decorum to the floor. Trigon licked the blood from his lips and sighed with dark satisfaction.

The Titans blanched as a collective whole. Bard turned pale. Superboy quickly averted his eyes. Beast Boy doubled over sharply and emptied the contents of his stomach. Even Rose, who had awaited her father's death for so long, flinched noticeably. It wasn't until Beast Boy had finished, wretched dryly and weakly wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve when Trigon finally seemed to notice them.

"**AH,"** he intoned. **"YOU ARE RAVEN'S FRIENDS." **His yellow eyes grew momentarily distant, listening to something only he could hear. **"RAVEN IS PLEADING...BEGGING...**_**SCREAMING**_** FOR ME NOT TO HURT YOU. SHE WEEPS...BECAUSE SHE **_**KNOWS!" **_He extended his palm out to them.

Rose and the Teen Titans suddenly found themselves floating in midair, trapped in Trigon's grasp so tightly that they couldn't even struggle. Even Superboy, with his superhuman strength, couldn't move an inch. Trigon allowed his gaze to roam over them...and stopped it on Bard. His yellow eyes narrowed dangerously.

"**YOU..." **He snarled. **"YOU UNGRATEFUL WHELP. I WILL DRINK YOUR BLOOD FIRST!" **

Bard gulped down his fear and stared evenly at his father.

Trigon stomped forward until he was nose to nose with Bard. The cowboy could feel his hot breath on his face. Trigon opened his mouth to speak, but stopped as something caught his eye: The golden cross pendant around Bard's neck.

**"HAH,"** he scoffed. **"YOU THINK THAT TRINKET WILL PROTECT YOU?" **

"..." Bard said nothing.

Trigon reached out to yank the necklace off of him.

"**RAUGH!"** Trigon quickly withdrew his hand and held it as if he were burnt.

Bard smiled coldly.

"You were saying...?"

In a flash, Trigon grabbed Bard's face in his hand, jerked him forward and forced his fearful silence.

**"SILENCE!"** He roared, and Bard flinched. **"HOW DARE YOU MOCK ME?" **

With his thumb, he pushed his claw into Bard's skin just outside his eyebrow. The razor sharp edge bit into the skin.

Trigon jerked down sharply.

_"AHHHHHHHHHH!" _

"Stop it!"

"Leave him alone!"

"Stop damaging our friend!"

Trigon ignored them. He grinned and licked the blood from his finger.

"My Lord!" Brother Blood, nearly forgotten, called and prostrated himself at Trigon's feet. "I am your humble servant. Please, let my first service to you be the removal of that infernal necklace."

Bard hung his head weakly, the blood from the huge gash along the side of his face dripping thickly to the floor.

Trigon looked at Brother Blood curiously.

**"...WHO ARE YOU, BOY?" **

"I am Brother Blood." He bowed even lower. "Surely you have heard my prayers, O Dark One."

**"BROTHER BLOOD..."** Trigon mused. **"OF COURSE. WHAT POWER DO YOU POSSESS?" **

"I possess power to match your ingrate son, Master." He answered. "As well as an army of followers faithful to you."

Trigon nodded, pleased.

**"YOU SHALL BE THE GENERAL OF MY ARMY."** Trigon proclaimed. **"BUT I REFUSE TO HAVE AN ARMY OF MORTALS. THEY SHALL NOT BE SUFFICIENT FOR MY PLANS." **

He held up his hand, palm up...

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"Damn it!" Commissioner Walker raged and cursed. "_Shit! Fuck! Bitch! MICHAEL MOORE'S PANTIES!" _

"I totally agree." Tim forced out laboriously, resting on one knee behind a police car. "But what are we gonna do?"

"I dunno." Walker admitted in disgust. "We're about to be trapped like rats and I don't know what the _fuck_ to _do_!"

Something suddenly flashed in Tim's eyes. He quickly turned to the officer that had brought the bad news.

"Hey, you!" He pointed at him. "In that army that's coming: Was there a hunchbacked fella in it? The guy in charge?"

The officer nodded.

"There was a hunchback, but I don't know whether or not he was in char-"

Tim turned a trotted cumbrously down the street.

Commissioner Walker watched him go.

"What the hell are you doing, son?"

He turned back to the army of cultist...and almost had a heart attack.

There were no cultists anymore. In there place were...abominations. Monsters. Scaly, slimly, horrifying creatures that could only be described as...demons. They were of all different colors and shapes, but their defining characteristics were muzzle full of glittering, razor-sharp teeth and wicked-looking claws that looked like knives.

One demon thrusts both handfuls of claws into an officer's belly, shrieked in a voice no human could imitate and flexed outwards, ripping the man in half. Entrails and blood and worse splattered everywhere.

Commissioner Walker had already drawn his gun and fired a full clip before he remember to announce:

_"LETHAL FORCE! LETHAL FORCE! FIRE AT WILL!" _

But there was no need. His other officers had already started firing...

Or were already dead.


	93. Final Verse Part Eleven

"L-Lord... W-why have you abandoned us...?" - Bard

_**CHAPTER NINETY THREE  
FINAL VERSE, PART ELEVEN**_

**FLASSSSSSSSSSSSSSH!**

Suddenly released from Trigon's invisble grip, Bard fell roughly to his hands and knees. Surprised, he stared numbly at the concret ground underneath him, waiting for blood from the deep gash in his face to drop down. It never did.

Bard's faced scrunched up in confusion.

_What the..._

He stopped in mid-thought as he looked up. The expanse of Jump City laid before him. Only...it was gone. The sky was a smoggy, red-tinged black. The ground was mixture of cold blackness and glowing hot lava. The building were all rubble or barely erect ruins. There wasn't a soul around; not a living thing. The air was heavy and sulfuric.

_...Hell?_

Bard's heart sank in his chest as his eyes roamed the landscape. He absently brought a hand up to the gash on his face as he took it all in...or, at least, what _should_ have been a gash. Instead, the cowboy felt the slight puffiness of a scar that began just below his left temple, went around his lips and ended at the point of his chin. His father had marked him with a symbol he could never escape...

But, in the long run, that didn't really matter. Trigon now owned Jump City...and maybe even the whole world, despite Bard's greatest efforts to stop him.

Bard mentally stopped himself there, immediately analyzing that. Despite his greatest efforts? That was easily a lie. He'd been so involved in taking down Brother Blood that he had ignored everything else. And, in the end, that hadn't done a heap of good, either. Amber had still...and Raven...

The cowboy shook his head, trying to put his guilt behind him. Hindsight was 20/20, after all. The question _now_ was simply:

_Now what do I do?_

As he pondered that question he looked out at the wasteland lying before him...and suddenly realized one of his first assumptions had been wrong. There _were_ living things in sight. It was nothing but a speck in his vision, but Bard coul see a bird flying towards him.

_Hope it ain't a grey-speckled bird..._

And, as it drew, Bard realized it wasn't. In fact, he decided as he squinted at it...

It wasn't a bird at all.

Bard enhaled sharply.

"Lord help me..." He whispered.

The creature that flew towards him was one that had never been seen by mortal, earthly eyes before. It had a humanoid form, save for the slimy, reptilian green skin that covered him. A pair of dragon-like wings sprouted from its back and two, short, black horns protruded from its forehead. Its eyes were dull and black and his hands and feet were visciously armed with long, wicked-looking claws.

Bard whirled around quickly and searched the roof for some place to hide, but he found nothing. Sucking it up, he turned back to the demon. He held up his fists, hummed under his breath and-

"..."

He held up his fists, hummed under his breath and-

"..."

Nothing happened. No fire or ice or lightning or wind.

_...shit!_

With a freakish bellow, the demon swooped down at him, its teeth barred and its claws slashing.

Bard dove for the dirt just in time. He came out unscathed, but the back of his coat had been shredded by its claws.

The demon swooped at him again and, once again, Bard dove out of the way. He rolled to his feet and turned...just in time for the demon to plow straight into him. They tumbled across the rooftop as one, Bard trying to avoid its teeth and claws by gripping its wrists.

They finally came to a stop, with the demon on top. Unable to attack right away, the demon hissed at Bard with row after slathering row of razor sharp teeth.

"Urrrrrrgh!" Bard struggled with it manfully. "S-same to you, too, buddy!"

**WHAP!**

He planted both cowboy boots into the monster's chest, kicking him off.

That act in and of itself helped boost Bard's confidence. He was fighting a _demon_. But, even without his powers, he had managed to fend it off. He wrapped his fingers tighter around his metal knuckles. Now it was time to _finish_ it off.

Bard charged at it.

**WHAM!**

His initial, straight right punch connected solidly into the demon's cheek.

**WHAM!**

He smacked its temple with a left hook.

**WHAM!**

Though he was unsure of the demon's anatomy, he kicked it hard between the legs. The demon hunched over.

**WHAM!**

Bard finished the combo by exerting all of his strength intoa power right uppercut. The momentum of the attack sent the demon head over clawed heels and planted face first into the rooftop.

"Heh," Bard exhaled, flicking a bit of hair out of his face. "Demons ain't so tough..."

He turned and walked a step or two away before suddenly stopping and groaning inwardly.

_Cowboy...didn't Beast Boy already tell you about saying stuff like that?_

The changeling had been right.

**SLASSH!**

The demon's claws raked across Bard's back like whip lashes, only deeper.

_"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

Bard's knees gave away under the pain. He fell heavily to his knees. He stared blankly ahead, knowing blindly that the demon was advancing on him from behind.

"..."

He pitched himself abruptly to the side, just as the demon's decapitating swipe sailed at his head. The attacked arced harmlessly above him and he rolled painfully to his feet, wincing. Bard looked over at the small storage building beside him and quickly kicked loose a piece of rusted metal pipe. He picked it up and held it in both hands like a club.

The demon darted at him.

**WHACK!**

Bard caught him right between the horns with an overhand swing and the monster staggered back woodenly.

The cowboy tried to swing again with his newfound weapon, but the demon knocked the pipe from his hands with one of his wings. Bard stood there before him, defenseless.

The demon screamed inhumanly and swung a clawed hand at him.

Bard ducked and pivoted to where he was behind it. He jumped on the demon's back, positioned his forearm across its throat and used his other arm to tighten his grip, attempting to choke...despite the fact he had no idea whether or not the thing actually breathed.

The demon stumbled to the left and right before reaching back, grabbing Bard and flinging him over his head into the ground. Bard rolled away.

**STOMP!**

The demon's taloned foot slammed down where Bard's head had been a moment before with such force that it cracked the concrete.

"Ugh..." Bard shook his head, trying to keep his mind off the burning pain in his back. "N-never worked f-for HBK, either..."

The demon answered with an intelligible grunt and flapping of its wings. Airborned, he swooped at Bard again.

Bard jumped as high as he possibly could and somehow cleared the demon's hulking body. He pivoted in midair and latched his arms around its neck.

Bard gulped.

_Here we go...!_

**SWOOSH!**

They barrel rolled over the edge of the roof and went _straight down_.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Bard yelled frantically. "Pull up!"

The demon snarled and tried to claw at its uninvited rider, unconcerned or ignorant of the lave-covered ground rushing up at them.

"Pull up!" Bard screamed at the top of his lungs. "You got wings for a reason, damn it! _PULL UP!"_

Giving up, the cowboy clenched his eyes shut so he wouldn't have to see the end coming.

**SWOOSH!**

The demon righted itself at the last possible moment and straightened out, gliding with less than a foot of space between its chest and the bubbling lava.

Bard let out an explosive sigh of relief.

**SLASSSSH!**

_"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

Bard screamed.

And screamed.

And screamed.

Five claws had raked deeply across his face, ripping his flesh to shreds.

"_AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

**CRASH!**

Bard suddenly found himself flying through the air.

Over lava.

Over lava.

He barely hit on the mainland of black sonte and bounced and tumbled to a bloody stop. He wept from the extreme pain, and his tears spilling into the fresh gashes on his face only made them hurt all the worse.

Bard had no idea how long he laid there, trying to cope with it; minutes, hours and days all rolled into one scarring episode. He finally forced himself to look up and, through his blurry vision, he saw what had happened.

A black, rocky crag was thrust up out of the lava. The demon had smacked headlong into it, he assumed, and fell into the lava. Momentum and a lucky angle was all that had kept the cowboy alive.

At length, Bard stood up, trying to ignore the rivulets of blood streaming down his face and back. His hitchhiked flight of near death had brought him across the bay and onto the mainland where Jump City had once stood. Some buildings were still erect, but most had been reduced to rocky rubble.

Bard started walking mechanically; aimlessly. What else was he supposed to do? He shambled through the streets with his head bowed, barely noticing the scant remnants of normalcy: Rusted cars and street signs. Lonely newspaper vendors and vandalized snack and drink machines.

Even amidst his pain, a thought hit him that terrified him to the core.

_Am I the only one left?_

He froze and forced himself to look up, showing his disfigured face to the world...but it didn't matter: The cowboy saw no one.

"Hey!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.

His only answer was a faint echo.

"Hey! Is someone out there? _Anybody_ out there?"

No one called back.

He tried again, but his voice came out as a whisper.

"Anyone at all?"

Crestfallen, hopeless and in extreme pain, he fell to his knees. He had no strength left in his bloody, weak body. No will. And, most of all...

No faith.

"L-Lord..." He coughed out along with blood. "W-why have you abandoned us...?"

He fell forward, but blackness had already over took him before he hit the ground.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Bard was surprised when he woke and...honestly...he didn't want to.

But then he felt the cold, we touch on his back. It was painful ecstasy. He opened his eyes and found his hanging off the end of a table and rubbled-cleared ground filled his vision. He suddenly realized somone had brought him here and was cleaning the wounds that streaked across his back. He groaned and shifted weakly.

"Easy," a young, through hard and grizzled voice instructed him. "I'm almost finished."

Bard reluctantly obeyed. It wasn't like he could do much about it, anyway. He lay limp and let the man do his tedious, sickening work.

His 'doctor' was surprisingly gentle as his hands manipulated the wet rag across and along the gashes on his back. The coolness felt good, even if it did sting like crazy.

Not long later, the coolness left.

"Done," the voice said without much satisfaction. "I did the best I could, but those cuts are _really_ nasty."

"Thank you," Bard told him gratefully. He weakly put his arms under him and pushed himself up.

"Wait!" The man said sharply. "I-"

But it was too late. Bard had already seen him.

"Ah!" He cringed back in horror.

The man quickly turned away and retreated into the shadows of the small room.

"S-sorry," he stammered out. "I'm so sorry, dude. I...I should have warned you faster..."

Bard's heart was in his eyes.

"B-Beast Boy...I'm the one that's sorry, man. I shouldn't have-"

"Beast Boy shook his head, still turned away and masked in the shadows.

"It...it doesn't really bother me anymore..." His shoulders shuddered. "Y-you want to know how it happened, right?"

"Yeah," Bard admitted with a nod. "But...I want you to look me in the eye when you tell me."

Beast Boy sniffed brusquely.

"But-"

"BB, look at _m-my_ face." Bard pointed. "It's not like I still have my rugged good looks or sexy ways anymore."

"...heh."

"And you still look a hell of a lot better than Punk Rocket. He was just...ew."

From looking at the dark sihouette of Beast Boy's face, Bard saw the corner of his lip turn up ever so slightly. His sense of humor hadn't died...not yet, at least.

"A-are you sure, dude? Because I completely understand if-"

"Beast Boy!" Bard snapped, knowing it was the only way to break through to him. "Look at me!"

Beast Boy started in surprise. But then he turned towards Bard...and stepped out of the darkness.

It took every bit of love Bard had for his friend to repress the instinctive flinch at the sight.

Beast Boy was hardly recognizable. One of his trademark, pointy ears had been sliced completely off and the other was nothing but a dangling piece of meat that didn't look like it belonged on a human body. His face had been scarred over a dozen times. His nose was gone. His eye had been slashed out and was gruesomely uncovered. The green skin and familiar voice were the only reasons Bard had even recognized him.

Bard's voice was thick when he asked:

"H-how did it happen, Beast Boy?"

Beast Boy breathed in a shaky breath.

"Trigon...he was too powerful for us. He killed e-everyone that went up against him. Superman, Batman, the Justice League, JSA...he killed all of them. So easily...so god damned easily..."

Bard waited patiently as the changeling collected himself, but his brain was going a mile a minute.

And...the Titans. He killed them, too. Cy, Star, Robin...all of them. He cut them down right in front of me. So much b-b-b-blood! I-I was the last standing. And..." He turned away. Not out of shame for his appearance, but for- "I ran away, Bard. I c-couldn't help it. I knew he would have killed me, t-too. And he l-laughed." He shook all over. "God, I can still hear it..."

Bard couldn't help himself: He reached out roughly and pulled him into a hug. Bard was never a touchy-feely kind of guy but..._Jesus_...the pain he saw in Beast Boy...

"Y-y-y-you should have b-been there! Trigon...you could have done something! I never knew evil until...until...untill..." He broke down.

Bard just held him. And, despite himself, he started crying, too. The pain...the pain was so incredible on every single plane: Mental, emotional and physical.

The bloody, fiery gashes across his back and face.

The utter hopelessness of it all. What should they do? What _could _they do?

And then...the infinite feeling of loss. Everything...everything that meant anything was gone.

Family.

Friends.

Lovers.

Laughter and joy were suddenly foreign words. Bard wasn't even sure he knew what they meant anymore, or even if they had even existed.

He could do nothing but cry in his friend's arms in the middle of a lonely, torturous purgatory.

_I...I can't live like this. __**No one**__ can live like this...This is hell. A hell we don't deserve._

_A hell we don't deserve..._

_God, please help us._

_Kill us if you must._

_Just...don't let us live this way._

_Don't let us __**be**__ this way..._

_H-help us... _

_Please..._

_Help..._

_Us..._

**FLASSSSSSSSH!**

Suddenly released from Trigon's invisible grip, Bard fell roughly to his hands and kness. Teras still streamed openly down his cheeks and mixed with the thick, red blood that poured from the gash on his cheek. He looked numbly down at the wooden floor beneath him...and watched as blood dripped down and stained it.

_T-Thank you..._

Bard slowly made his way to his feet, the pain in his face nothing like the pain he had just experienced. He looked ahead of him and saw that Trigon and Brother Blood were gone. He clutched at his chest and found that his golden cross pendant was missing, too.

_Brother Blood..._

Remembering his...experience...he quickly pushed that aside. He turned back to look at his teammates.

He stared at them, his eyes wavering. He shook and bit his lower lip.

Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire, Superboy and even The Ravager were all crying.

Some of them cried hysterically.

Some of them cried heartbrokingly.

But all of them, he knew...felt absolutely hopeless.

Wishing for death.

Robin laid on the floor, completely motionless save for the tears rolling out of the corners of his eye mask.

Bard looked at him and somehow knew.

He was paralyzed.

Totally useless.

Totally _helpless_.

Beast Boy recoiled across the room, cringing.

"Terra!" He cried out in agony. "S-stop it! This isn't you!"

Something invisible slammed into his chest and he catapulted across the room.

The others, too, reeled from some trauma or horror. Bard didn't know..._couldn't_ know exactly what they were going through. And he also bet they wouldn't want him to. As friends, the wouldn't want him to have to know that pain. But...even deeper...some secrets can never truly be shared.

Bard's heart wrenched inside his chest for his friends, but none more than for Starfire. Humans, by their very nature, had a darkness inside of them. And some say taht such dark thoughts and feelings should be punished.

But Starfire...who had she ever hurt? What had she ever, _ever_, done wrong? She was the sweetest, most compassionate person Bard had ever met. She didn't deserve to be subject to this agony. Or, better put, she was the least deserving. It felt so, so _WRONG_.

The Tammaranian Princess stood with her feet spaced wide apart and her hands straight as if her limbs were bound.

"No!" Starfire suddenly shrieked. "Stay away from her! Do not touch her!"

Bard watched, his tomach knotting with apprehension.

"Erggggh! Let go of me!" Starfire pulled agains ther 'bonds', but they kept her locked in place. "Vile Gordanians! _GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME!"_

Bard's eyes widened in horror.

Starfire started crying, her tears the color of her eyes.

_No...NO...__**NO**__...__**NO**__...__**NOOOOO!**_

Bard did the only thing he could do: He wrapped his arms around her in a crushing hug, trying in some scant way to comfort her. He held her through the whole, horrendous ordeal.

Starfire wept.

Starfire struggled.

She cried.

And she railed.

And she trembled.

And she screamed.

And Bard held her...


	94. Final Verse, Part Twelve

_"What are you, castrated?" - Brother Blood_

_**CHAPTER NINETY FOUR  
FINAL VERSE, PART TWELVE**_

**BLAM! BLAM! BL-BL-BLAM!**

The scene looked like it had come straight from a zombie movie.

Commissioner Walker and his men knelt low behind the patrol car barricade, letting loose an endless barrage of gunfire with their pistols.

The horde of monsters that had once been Brother Blood's black-robed cultists marched mindlessly forward, their slimy, reptilian skin glistening and their nightmarish faces ravenous.

"Don't let up!" Walker yelled to his men. "Keep shooting! Blast those bastards straight to hell!"

**BLAM! BLAM! B-B-BLAM!**

Dozens of bullets ripped straight through the demons. Strangely colored blood would splatter and they would stagger back, but Walker and his men couldn't stop their advance.

Commissioner Walker stopped shooting and slid behind the car hood to reload his two pistols.

"Tim!" He shouted. "Get your damn thumb out of your ass and pick up a gun or-" He turned to him.

Tim was gone.

"Shit..." Walker swore. "Kids are fucking unreliable nowadays..."

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Bard held Starfire. That was all he could do. He held her tight, trying to stop her from hurting herself in her 'struggling'. He firmly pressed her face into his chest, enduring her desperate biting and head butting. That hurt, of course, but nowhere near..._near_...as much as her screams and cries and tears and trembling. Bard buried his face into the back slope of Starfire's shoulder and clenched his eyes shut, trying to block it all out while he tried his best to somehow comfort her.

And it wasn't just Starfire. The other Titans were suffering horrors as well, and he could hear them plainly.

Robin's quiet weeping.

The Ravager's heartrending lamentations.

Cyborg's hiccuping crying.

Superboy's bellowing shrieks.

And Beast Boy pleading hopelessly with 'Terra'.

Bard couldn't decide which was worse: His own horror Trigon had created for him, or this reality where his closest friends...his _family_...were in such pain while he watched helplessly, unable to do a damn thing.

Bard didn't know how long he stood there, holding Starfire and hearing all the pain and anguish and agony. It felt like an eternity to the cowboy.

Robin was the first to 'wake up', though Bard didn't notice. He just stood there, holding Starfire.

Holding her.

Giving her any comfort he could.

Trying to block it all out.

And then he felt Robin's eyes on him. He looked up and saw the Boy Wonder standing there, watching mutely. His eye mask was wet and his face was flushed and grim. Bard made to let go of Starfire so Robin could take over, but Robin shook his head and held up his ungloved hand to stop him.

One by one, the Titans all came out of their living nightmares. None of them said a word, they just stood around Bard and Starfire, their faces stony and ashen.

Starfire was the last of them to come to. She shook, weakly looked up to see Bard hugging he and collapsed wordlessly into him. Bard hugged her all the tighter, rubbing her back and whispering reassurances into her ear. Looking back, the cowboy would never remember exactly what he said, but he knew it came straight from the heart.

Finally, Starfire sniffed back her tears and, while still shaking, slowly disentangled herself from Bard's embrace. Robin gave her a moment before he said:

"Is everyone all right?" He asked.

He recieved no real answer, only a few unenthusiastic nods.

"I know it's hard," Robin continued. "But what you just saw...and felt...you have to get it all out of your minds. Trigon knows we're going to try to stop him. He tried to take our heads out of the game. If we can't think-"

"You're wrong."

Robin and the rest of the Titans stared at Bard.

"You're wrong." Bard repeated to them. "It doesn't have anything to do with our brains, ya'll. He was targeting our _hearts_. He wanted to destroy all the things that keep us going. Our will to fight. Our hope. Our...faith."

Everyone silently mulled that over.

"Without any of those things," Bard went on. "We are useless. And he knows that."

"Regardless," Robin summed it up. "Trigon was trying to put us at a disadvantage. So put all of that out of your mind. Right now, we can't afford to think of anything else besides stopping him."

"Dude..." Beast Boy spoke up, his foice sounding years older than it should. "Can we? Can we really stop him? I mean...Y-you saw what he did to Slade! He took him out with a flick of his wrist! What are _we_ supposed to do?"

Cyborg sighed, shaking his head.

"BB's got a point, ya'll." He pointed out. "How are we supposed to _fight_ something like that?"

"Bravely," Bard answered him. "I know it looks bad...but we can win. I believe it."

Starfire hugged herself silently.

"How?" Superboy wanted to know. "How are we supposed to win against Trigon? Huh?"

Bard closed his eyes, thinking, trying to clear his mind of...of _every single thing_ that had happened on his horrid night.

"The cross pendant!" It finally came to him. "Ya'll saw Trigon when he touched it: It hurt him."

Robin's eye slits narrowed.

"Where is it now?" He asked.

"Brother Blood has it. I can almost guarantee it."

The Ravager stepped forward.

"I can get it." She volunteered. "I can find Brother Blood and take this pendant from him."

Robin thought about it, but then shook his head.

"No, Bard and I will take care of it. I want the rest of you to go find Trigon...I'm sure he won't be hard to find...and contain him. Limit his destruction, but don't risk yourselves. Me and Bard will meet up with you when we have the cross pendant and we'll come up with a plan then. Got it?"

Everyone nodded.

"Bard," Robin motioned to him. "Come on." He half turned and-

"Wait,"

Robin turned back.

"What is it?"

Bard looked to be lost in thought.

"What is it?" Robin repeated.

Bard looked at him.

"...I want to pray."

Robin frowned.

"We don't have time for this right now."

"Now is the perfect time." Bard disagreed. "I wanna pray...and I want all of ya'll to hear it."

Robin opened his mouth to object again-

"Please, Robin." Bard pleaded with him earnestly. "You don't have to believe, you don't have to say anything. I...I just want all of ya'll to be me. _Please..._"

"..." The Titans Leader stared long and hard at him. Finally: "Fine. But make this quick."

Bard nodded and immediately went down on one knee. He motioned for everyone to circle around him. Robin was the last to join the circle, his arms defiantly crossed over his chest.

"Robin," Bard said to him. "Just...humor me. Please. Just this once."

Robin sighed and uncomfortably let his hands drop to his sides.

Bard took in a deep breath and began:

"Lord, his is a little different than usual. I'm not used to praying out loud...or in front of folks. So bear with me."

Robin fidgeted.

"I don't know how many of them believe...or if any of them even do...but this is my family now. And I thank you everyday for leading me to them."

Starfire closed her eyes and hugged herself tighter.

"And they're in danger now. So many innocent people are who don't deserve it. Trigon is here, and we need your help."

Cyborg respectfully bowed his head.

"We need your incredible strength."

Superboy thrust his hands deeping into the pockets of his leather jacket and lowered his head as well.

"We need your infinite wisdom."

The Ravager crouched down, her arms folded across her stomach.

"But, most of all, Lord..."

Beast Boy breathed in and out very slowly, his dark green eyes far away.

"We need your love. Help us do what we must. In your holy name, Amen."

Bard stayed down on his knee for a moment longer, as if he were adding something silently. Then he stood and looked at each of his friends gratefully.

"Thank you." He told them quietly. Simply.

Robin looked at him.

"...Are you ready now?"

Bard somehow managed a half smile before he answered.

"Let's mosey."

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Brother Blood stood on a rooftop, his crimson cape flapping behind him in the cold, bitter wind. He looked down at his army of demons...and couldn't help but grin.

His plans hadn't been carried out exactly how he'd planned, but the end result was still perfect. Trigon, his god, was now on earth and his dark lord had bestowed this demon army upon him, setting him up as General. He would use it to cleanse the world, to bring all peoples under the rule of Trigon. The young man trembled in anticipation of that fateful day, envisioning it in his flashing, frightening eyes; eyes that burned with intense, fantical fire and zeal.

"It all ends now, Sebastion!"

Brother Blood turned.

"Bard," he greeted him. "You've been well I trust?" The cult leader smirked and pointed at the bloody gash on his face. "The scar you're going to get from that will give your face character."

Bard smoldered.

"Speaking of building character," Brother Blood went on almost giddily. "I once heard somewhere that tragedy in a hero's life helps define him. You should thank me."

That was more than Bard could take.

And Brother Blood knew it.

"Raugh!"

Bard tossed two handfuls of blazing fire.

**PHOMB! PHOMB!**

Brother Blood flipped away acrobatically.

**SW-SW-SW-SW-SWOOSH! ZLING!**

A bolo spun from out of nowhere, hit Brother Blood high on the chest and wrapped him up neatly. He teetered, teetered and finally fell over. Bard walked up to him and Robin swooped in via grappling line to land beside him, favoring one leg.

Brother Blood burst out laughing.

"Hahahahahahaha!"

The slits of Robin's eye mask narrowed.

"What's so funny?" He asked threateningly.

"Heheheh. Come on! I'm fighting a _Jonny_ and a _Dick!_"

Bard blinked.

Robin gasped.

**CR-ACKKKKK!**

Lightning streaked down and hit between Robin and Bard. The awesome force of it sent them flying in separate directions. Whle they recovered, Brother Blood produced a dagger made of glittering ice and cut himself free of the bolo. He stood just as Robin and Bard charged him.

He easily sidestepped Bard's untrained, though powerful, hook punch and prepared himself to meet Robin.

Brother Blood barely ducked Robin's half circle roundhouse kick and swiped at him with his ice dagger.

Robin back flipped away and Bard charged back in, more in control of himself this time. He jabbed at his eye with a thumb, but Brother Blood blocked with his foream and elbowed him to the side.

Just in time to see Robin's bare-knuckled fist.

**WHAM!**

Brother Blood stumbled back from the attack and Bard and Robin followed up, matching each other stride for stride.

Brother Blood dodged Bard's metal-fisted jab.

He blocked Robin's karate chop.

He jump-kicked Bard in the chest even as he cartwheeled over Robin's leg takedown.

Brother Blood caught his breath and smirked again.

"How is Bruce doing, Robin?" He asked through it. "Has he found a replacement yet?"

What's he talking about, Robin?"

But Bard shouldn't even have bothered.

Robin was already charging.

"Hehehehehe," Brother Blood chuckled. "I didn't hit a nerve, did- Oh!"

He leapt back just as three birdarangs acred and sliced into the roof where he had just been.

"Haugh!"

Brother Blood back-stepped and back-stepped and back-stepped, somehow blocking and dodging Robin's ferocious flurry of kicks and punches. And he waited.

Waited for an opening...

And found it.

He kicked hard at Robin's knee.

_"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"_

Robin collapsed, clutching his stabbed knee.

Bard leapt in and Brother Blood waited for him, too. He measured him...

And kicked him squarely below the belt.

"Augh!"

Bard hit the ground hard and went to his hands and knees, doubled over.

Brother Blood smiled.

"How do you like it?"

Bard suddenly looked up, grinning.

"You tell _me!_"

**WHAM!**

Brother Blood fell into a fetal position from Bard's dirty punch.

"H-how?" He wheezed. "What are you, castrated!"

"You wish." Bard droned. "It's called a 'cup'."

Brother Blood groaned.

**STOMP!**

Bard brought the heel of his cowboy boot down hard on Brother Blood's hand.

"Augh!" He rolled over and clutched at his knuckles.

Bard smiled coldly and pressed his foot down on Brother Blood chest, keeping him in place. He knelt down and took the cross pendant from around his neck.

"This is mine..."

Bard looked down at the cross pendant necklace in his hand. It...it fel different.

The cowboy immediately retracted that thought as he examined it. The pendant wasn't different. Nor did it feel different. And then he realized it.

It had been so intimately connected with Amber...and Amber was gone.

He clutched it to his chest, his eyes closed.

"Bard, look out!"

Bard turned-

**WHAM!**

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Trigon stood in the middle of the deserted street, his eyes closed and his arms folded over his chest.

And he was thirty feet tall and half as wide.

"Heh," Superboy nervously scratched at the back of his head. "R-Robin wasn't kidding when he said he wouldn't be hard to find, r-right?"

"Dude," Beast Boy peered around the corner of the nearby alleyway where they stood. "What in the world is he doing?"

"He's praying for world peace."

"C'mon, man!" Superboy threw his hands up over his head. "What do you _think_ he's doing? He's frickin' _growing!_"

"It's more than that." Cyborg told them, typing on a small keyboard in his forearm. "There's a huge amount of energy in the air. I think he's...um...c-charging up."

"You mean he is drawing in this energy unto himself?" Starfire asked.

Cyborg grimly nodded.

"Great," Beast Boy moped. "He's gonna be even _more_ powerful. Greaaaaat."

Superboy folded his arms across his chest and grunted sourly.

"So what are we supposed to do?"

Cyborg looked up at Trigon and tried not to shudder.

"Well...he's not hurting anybody, so I guess we just stick tight and wait for Bard and Robin to show up."

"Great..." Beast Boy moaned again.

They stood there.

**"IF IT'S ENTERTAINMENT YOU WISH FOR, I CAN PROVIDE IT FOR YOU."**

They all jumped and gasped and whirled to look up at Trigon. His eyes were still closed, but the corner of his lip was upturned slightly.

Beast Boy simpered.

"T-t-this can't be g-good."

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

"Fire! Fire! Keep firing! Hold the line! Don't give up, damn it!" Commissioner Walker screamed what encouragement he could muster to his men, but he knew it was no use.

The demons, it seemed, were unkillable. Bullets woudl stagger and slow them down, but not stop them.

A demon suddenly broke his implacable walk into a full-blown sprint.

"Shoot him!" Walker yelled. "Fire! _Fire! FIRE!_"

**BL-BL-BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!**

Bullets whizzed by the demon and ricocheted off the asphalt near him, but none connected.

"_Raaaaaaaurrruuuur!"_

The demon leapt, snarling at them. Two policemen dove out of the way. A third cowered in fear.

**VRRROOOOMMMM!**

"Hahahahahahahah! Hellz yeah! _HERE COMES THE FRICKIN' CALVARY!_"

Tim zoomed by on the back of a big motorcycle. He brought it up into a high wheelie, hit a patrol car going full speed and was catapulted into the air...right at the demon. At the last second, he jumped off the bike.

**BOOOOM!**

The motorcycle hit the demon hard, sending it sliding down the street into his cohorts...and then it exploded.

_**BOOOOOOOM!**_

_"Holy shit!"_ Commissioner Walker bellowed in awe. He shook his head and turned to Tim. "Where the _fuck_ did you go?"

Tim just smirked and pointed.

Walker turned and saw the gang army. Hundreds of kids with pistols and rifles and machine guns and other assorted weapons and firearms marching towards them.

"!" Walker hurriedly ripped his pistol from its holster and pointed at them and-

**WHAP!**

Tim knocked it out of his hands.

"Calm down, pops! They're with us."

Walker stared at him.

"I know their leader." Tim explained. "He's not really bad...just...um...he's kinda in a messed up situation. Anyway, he knows who the real baddies are. I just had to knock it into him a lil' bit."

Blue walked up towards them, his walk seeming more like a primate's shuffle with his deformed hunchback.

"Dat's two bikes you an' Jonny owe me now!" He cleared his throat and looked up at Commissioner Walker. "I've been doin' a lot of bad things for a long time...for a stupid reason, don't ya know. Soon as we fight off these ugly bastards...I'll a'be turning mahself in."

Walker said nothing.

"C'mon," Tim cajoled him. "You need all the help you can get right now."

"..." He turned to Blue. "Well, what the hell are you standing there for? Tell your boys to blast those fuckers away!"

Blue grinned, showing his mishapen teeth, and did just that.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

**WHAM!**

Bard was sent flying along the roof...and off of it.

"Bard!"

**CRASH!**

Bard slammed through a glass window and hit the floor with startling force. He coughed and groaned, weakly starting to move in the pile of glass shards he'd landed in. Before he opened his eyes, he put on the cross pendant necklace he had somehow been able to hold on to during his splattering descent. He finally opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was a sign:

QUIET, PLEASE

The cowboy stood up, wiped the glass off of him and looked at the window he had been thrown through...and his eyes widened. He quickly held out his hands-

"Ooooof!"

He half slowed Robin's fall, but the two of them still tumbled to the ground.

Bard groaned again.

"Ugh...haven't you kung-fu-ed his ass yet?"

Robin stood, still favoring one leg.

"Haven't you fireball-ed him yet?"

"Eh, point taken..."

Brother Blood called up wind and levitated just beyond the window.

"I'm going to need that necklace back, Bard." He called in to him.

Bard raised his fists defiantly.

"Come get it!"

Brother Blood shrugged and held his hand palm out.

Bard blinked and started to raise his own-

**SPLASH!**

A jet of water four times wider than Cyborg's sonic cannon beam slammed into him and Robin. They were washed down a hallway along with wayward books that carried them around a corner and down some stairs.

Robin stood up sorely, waterlogged. He truned to Bard almost accusingly.

"He uses your powers better than you do!"

"See here!" Bard shot back. "Don't blame this on me! He's sure as hell kicking more ass than _you_!"

Robin threw up his arms in frustration.

"We're in a library, right? W#hy don't you go find a bible to bop him over the head with?"

Bard glared.

Robin glared.

Bard growled.

Robin growled.

A whistle.

Both boys turned.

"...oh shit."

**PHOMB!**


	95. Final Verse, Finale

_"...we're gonna need a bigger woodshed..." - Bard_

_**CHAPTER NINETY FIVE  
FINAL VERSE, PART THIRTEEN**_

**"THE TIME IS NOT RIGHT FOR ME TO KILL YOU."** Trigon's voice reverberated through the street. **"UNTIL THAT TIME IS UPON US...LET ME ENTERTAIN YOU!"**

Beast Boy shuddered and fell into a half-crouch, ready to transform at any moment.

Superboy fidgeted and held up his fists.

Starfire cautiously covered her hands with green star bolt energy.

Cyborg sweat and readied his sonic cannon.

The Ravager took a step forward and brandished her silver rapier.

**CRAAAAAAC-CKKKKK!**

A huge piece of rock smashed into the street, exploding into rubble.

The Titans flinched and covered themselves.

Thick, billowing dust filled the alleyway, obscuring everything from view. The Titans braced themselves. Ready for anything...

Except for what they were about to face.

A shadowy figure could barely be seen, walking through the dust towards them. It was petite and feminine, with long hair that seemed to float and dance about her head in living strands. Two eyes glowing with yellow energy pierced through the smoky debris.

"No..." Cyborg whispered, lowering his sonic cannon.

"It cannot be!" Starfire's star bolts flickered out.

The figure stepped through the concealing veil.

And Beast Boy gasped.

"_Terra...!"_

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Tim crouched impatiently behind a patrol car as an officer who minored in medicine tended to the gunshot wound in his shoulder. The big man didn't see fit to mention his other little 'boo boo' to him. He shifted in spite of himself.

Gunfire roared in the air, deafening loud. Tim had winced and tried to plug his ears with his hands, but he quickly gave up. Now he was starting to grow numb to it all.

_"Jonny is in danger." _A calm, girlish voice whispered plainly in his ear.

Tim jerked his head up, looking around.

"What is it?" The officer working on his shoulder looked up and asked. "Did that hurt?"

"Nah," Tim shook his head. "It was-" He stopped himself.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Tim shrugged it off until-

_"Jonny is in danger."_

"All right, damn it!" Tim raged at his medic. "I _know_ you heard that!"

The police officer looked at him blankly.

_"Jonny needs your help."_ Suddenly, the whisper came from a different direction. _"This way..."_

Tim looked...right at the horde of demons being chopped to pieces by gunfire.

"..."

He stoop up briskly, and the officer working on him nearly fell over.

"Hey!" He objected. "I'm not done yet-!"

**SMACK!**

Tim backhanded him away negligently, only half-wincing from the motion. He determinedly walked up to Blue and Commissioner Walker.

"Tell them to stop shooting."

The two mismatched men stared at him.

"For thirty seconds." Tim said. "Tell them to stop shooting for thirty seconds."

Commissioner Walker immediately opened his mouth to object, but Blue reached up and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Give da boy what he wants. I've seen dat look in his eye before."

"..." Walker said nothing.

_"Please,"_ Tim pleaded with him. "Thirty seconds is all I'm asking for. I'm gonna go help the Titans."

Walker finally nodded reluctantly and barked out the order several times. The gunfire eventually died out.

He turned to Tim.

"Good luck, kid-"

But Tim was already running head-first into the demon horde. he plowed over two dozen and was raked deeply in the sad by a trio of sharp claws. Then he was out of sight in the milling mass of the reptilian monsters.

Commissioner Walker waited a few more seconds before barking another order. The gunfire started back up immediately.

Unseen, on a rooftop nearby, was Zillah. She smiled sadly and wiped away a tear. She turned, lifted her hood over her head and-

**ZHHHHHHHHT!**

-disappeared.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

**PHOMB!**

Brother Blood launched a fireball at Bard and Robin.

**CHIIING!**

Bard erected a tall shield of ice that deflected the hot blast. Robin crouched down behind him.

"This isn't working." Robin barked. "Split up!"

"I don't think-" Bard turned, but Robin was already gone.

The cowboy muttered a sour curse under his breath.

**PHOMB! CRACK!**

The second fireball smashed through the ice shield and sent Bard rolling across the lobby floor.

"Where did Robin go?" Brother Blood walked forward, his feet crunching over ice shards. "Did he run away in fear?"

Bard instinctively put a hand up to his face, and brought back blood from the gash on the side of his face. But there were no new cuts. He looked up at Brother Blood tiredly.

"Ugh...looks that way, don't it?"

Brother Blood blinked, umprepared for the cowboy to agree with him.

Bard jumped all over the opportunity. He leapt up to his feet, held both palms out and sang:

_#Silver wings...taking you away!#_

Strong wind guested up as a powerful gale and sent Brother Blood flying. He smacked hard into a dry, concrete fountain and broke off the top: A stone angel. He hit the slick tiled floor, slid and banged roughly into the far wall.

That's when Robin descended from the rafters.

"_Now_ he shows up..." Bard drawled.

Robin rushed forward to attack Brother Blood, but then he suddenly stopped.

Bard blinked at him.

"What is it?"

Robind didn't reply or even look at him.

"Robin, what is it?"

"..."

Frustrated, Bard trotted up to him.

"What is the hold...up?" Bard stopped and stared.

The wing had broken off of the stone...and impaled Brother Blood through the chest. His red cape lay some twenty feet away, snagged off by the other wing. Blood pooled and stained the front of his white doublet.

"Gwah..." Brother Blood blinked with glazed, far away eyes. "M-Master...h-help me-me..."

Robin looked away from the dying boy, but Bard stayed absolutely still and stared at him with a mixture of conflicting emotions running turbulant inside him.

Bard could honestly say that he'd never truly hated another soul in his life...until now. He tried not to, but Brother Blood's list of unforgiviable offenses kept piling up.

He had killed his father, the former, more saintly Brother Blood and tried to frame him for it.

He had corrupted Zillah, leaving emotional scars that the cowboy doubted would ever heal.

He had tried to make him marry Raven, his sister.

He had attacked him and the other Titans several times, even going so far as to drain the essence out of him and Robin.

He had helped bring about the arrival of Trigon, doing his bidding.

But...

Most of all...

_Amber..._

Bard watched Brother Blood gasp and bleed and _die..._

...and fought back the horrific smile of satisfaction that tugged at his lips.

Brother Blood, Sebastion, closed his eyes for the last time.

"..."

"..."

His eyes impossibly popped back open, and they were completely, utterly blood _red_.

Robin had turned back.

"Bard!" He said warningly.

"YeS!" Brother Blood slurred in a voice that could hardly be called human. "ThAnK yOu MaStEr! ThAnK yOu! BeHoLd ThE pOwEr Of TrIgOn!"

Bard stared and fought with himself for a split second before-

"No." Bard stated adamantly, and it came out as a gravelly whisper.

He reached down, slid up his jean leg and took the switchblade from his cowboy boot.

_"Bard!"_

He never hesitated.

**SLLLLINKKKTT!**

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Terra stood plainly before the Teen Titans. She wore her apprentice suit of black, brown and silver plating with the orange 'S' emblem just over her heart. Her blonde hair succumbed to gravity and the yellow glow left her eyes...revealing them.

They were open wide, her pupils tiny and the whites of her eyes were so bloodshot that blood escaped from the corners of them like crimson tears. Her nose bled as well, leaking into her insane, unfaltering grin.

Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy all unconsciously stepped back, horrified.

"What are you afraid of?" The Ravager asked without looking at them, walking calmly up to Terra. "She's only a little girl." She raised her rapier.

Terra's eyes glowed yellow.

**CRACCK!**

The ground beneath The Ravager's feet abruptly sprang to life, erupting upward and flinging her away.

Superboy looked at the three original Titans. He looked at Terra. He took in a deep breath and flew at her.

**CRUNCH!**

The brick wall of the alleyway curled inwards and plowed hard into him.

"C'mon, ya'll!" Cyborg was the first to snap out of it. "That's not really Terra! Let's take it down!"

Starfire hesitantly nodded.

Beast Boy said nothing.

Cyborg stomped forward. He leapt over one flung rock, sidestepped another and rolled under another one as well before he reached her. Just as he did, a rock wall separated them.

"Argh!" He punched it to rubble with his titanium fists.

But Terra was gone.

Cyborg turned to look questioningly at Starfire and Beast Boy...and they saw Terra over his shoulder. She launched a stalactite-shaped rock straight towards the robot's unsuspecting back.

"Cyborg!" Starfire cried out, but she was too far away to do anything.

Superboy wasn't.

**SWOOSH!**

He placed himself between Cyborg and the stone javelin just in time. The rock smashed into his chest, and he was catapulted back into Cyborg. The two of them fell to the ground in a heap.

Starfire growled and flew forward, her hands holding star bolts and her eyes glowing green.

"How dare you impersonate our friend?"

**ZAF! ZAF! ZAF! ZAF! ZAF!**

Terra summoned up a rocky platform and zoomed away on it, twisting and turning to avoid the green blasts. She swooped down close to the ground, and that's when a star bolt smashed into her flying platform.

**ZAF! BOOM!**

The rock platform exploded into dust and Terra smacked the ground, rolling and tumbling to a stop. Starfire streaked at her, but Terra looked up at her with wavering eyes.

"Pl-please!"

Starfire hesitated.

**WHACK!**

Terra smacked her away with a chunk of concrete and the grin came back to her face.

"You always were easy to fool..."

**WHAM!**

Cyborg plowed his metal shoulder into her side, sending her skipping across the ground.

Terra rolled to her feet and threw her arms up. A sizable slab of street tilted up...and over on Cyborg.

"Cyborg!"

Starfire and Superboy dug him out of the rubble and Terra simply watched on with her grin.

"She's stronger than she was before." Cyborg panted.

The Ravager ignored him and ran forward at her. She leapt over one thrown rock and slashed another smaller one in half with her rapier. When she reached her, she jabbed at Terra with her rapier. Terra sidestepped, caught the weapon underneath her arm and used it as a fulcrum to toss The Ravager away.

**ZRRRRRHHT!**

Terra leapt away from the twin red laser beams of Superboy's heat vision. She jumped up on a rock platform and floated upwards. Superboy followed her. He reared back his fist of steel and-

**CRRRACCK!**

-punched Terra's platform to rubble. The blonde girl fell, but caught hold of two small rocks and hovered in midair. She front flipped like a gymnast and brought the back of both her heels down on Superboy's head. The Boy of Steel shot down like a downed jet and smacked hard into the ground.

Starfire flew forwards. Terra launched a concrete slab at her-

**ZAF!**

-but Starfire blasted it apart with a well-placed star bolt. She zoomed through the resulting cloud of dust...

And into Terra's spinning kick.

**WHAM!**

Cyborg grit his teeth and moved to attack, but Beast Boy stopped him with a hand to his metal chest. The robot looked at him questioningly.

"BB, what-"

Beast Boy took in a deep, determined breath and squared hsi shoulders. He stepped forward to stand between the Titans and Terra.

"This is my fight..."

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

**SLLLINKKKT!**

Bard mercilessly drove the end of his switchblade knife deep into Brother Blood's throat. Brother Blood clenched his eyes shut and flinched. But the he opened them again and started up at Bard with twin orbs of red.

And there was no blood.

Bard and Robin stared in horror as Brother Blood's skin turned hard and black. Claws erupted from his hands and feet. His teeth turned sharp and a pair of onyx horns appeared on his head.

"ToO lAtE, BaRd!" The demon that had been Brother Blood cackled. "ThOu ShAlT nOt KiLlLlLlLlL!"

"Bard!" Robin barked. "Look out!"

The Boy Wonder dove and plowed into the cowboy as Brother Blood pounced at them, slashing. His claws slashed through Robin's polymerized titanium cap like paper. Bard and Robin climbed to their feet just as Brother Blood turned to glare at them with slavering jaws.

Slowly, Bard took off the cross pendant necklace, wrapped the chain around his fist and held the cross pendant itself as if it were a knife.

"RaUgGgGhHhHhH!"

Brother blood leapt snarling at Robin, his claws outstretched. Robin flipped away, leaving Brother Blood standing there with his back explosed to Bard. Bard jumped at him and stabbed with the cross pendant.

**WHACK!**

Brother Blood blindly back smacked him away. The cross pendant necklace flew from Bard's grip and skittered across the floor.

"Haugh!" Robin rushed forward, leapt and planted his metal-toed boot into Brother Blood's chest. The demon stumbled back.

Bard looked up desperately from the floor and crawled towards the cross pendant.

**WHAM!**

Brother Blood front kicked the advancing Robin across the room, over the receptionist's desk and into the bookcase behind it. He turned to Bard, who was still crawling towards the cross pendant.

**GRIP!**

Brother Blood grabbed the cowboy by the ankle and held him upside down at eye level.

"YoU fOoL." Brother Blood chewed off the words. "YoU tHiNk I fEaR tHaT wOrThLeSs TrInKeT?"

Still holding Bard, he bent over and picked the necklace up.

"AuGhHhHhHhHhHhH!"

The cross pendant glowed white as it made contact with his flesh. Steam billowed up at it ate throuhg his hand.

His clawed hand hit the floor, along with Bard and the cross pendant.

_"AuGgGgGgGhHhHhH!"_

Bard reached over and grabbed the cross pendant. Before he could stand up, Brother Blood kicked him away even as he clutched at his burnt stump of an arm.

"Bard!" Robin called to him from behind the long desk. "Throw it!"

He hesitated.

"Throw the cross pendant!" Robin repeated. "Trust me!"

Bard flung the cross pendant at Brother Blood. He ducked...

And it hit a spinning birdarang instead. The cross pendant wrapped around the birdarang, and the birdarang sank into Brother Blood's chest.

_"NoOoOoOoOoOoOoooooooo!"_

Bard panted and panted and panted and panted...

And smiled.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Terra grinned sickeningly at Beast Boy.

"You always did want me all to yourself..." She taunted him.

Beast Boy's eyes wavered.

"Hraugh!" Terra jumped forward with a flying kick.

Beast Boy morphed into an armadillo, crouched into a ball and rolled underneath the blow. He switched back to his regular form and rushed Terra. Terra was ready, and the too grabbed each other and grappled, fighting for position and leverage.

Beast Boy overpowered her until-

"It's all you fault..." She whispered.

Beast Boy's grip loosened while Terra's tightened. Terra pivoted and flung him towards the wall of the broad alleyway, but Beast Boy transformed into a vampire bat and flew away from it.

"Good job, BB!" Cyborg cheered quietly, watching the fight intently.

"A wonderful manuever!" Starfire agreed.

Beast Boy landed in the form of a velociraptor. He stalked Terra one patient step at a time.

"Hah!"

Beast Boy recoiled from the fist-sized rock that smacked him in his teeth-studded muzzled. But then he jerked his head back and stared at Terra with baleful eyes of green fury. His hood flared angrily. He stomped at her, and Terra could do nothing but flinch and cover herself.

Beast Boy let out a screeching roar and opened his trap-like jaws to bite down crushingly on Terra...but that was it. He stopped within an inch of her.

"Why did he stop?" The Ravager wanted to know over on the 'sideline'. "He could have finished her."

No one answered her.

Terra's eyes glowed yellow. She grunted and thrust out both of her hands.

**CRA-AAACCKKK!**

A tremor ripped through the ground. It took Beast Boy off his feet and reverted him back into elf mode.

"What's the matter, Beast Boy?" Terra taunted him with a show of mock sincerity. "You don't still _love_ me, do you?"

Beast Boy stepped back as if she had hit him. But then he quickly morphed into a giant gorilla. He smashed the ground with his meaty hands and roared as loud as he could.

Superboy fidgeted in his spectator position.

**WHAMMM!**

A huge piece of concrete smashed into Beast Boy. He reverted back to elf form and found his legs trapped beneath it. Terra leapt up on the concrete and looked down at him.

"This feels familiar, doesn't it?" She held up her hands and summoned up a spike-shaped rock. She manipulated it to float just above Beast Boy, point down. "_Very_ familiar..."

"No!" Starfire gasped.

**CLAK-CLAK-CLAK!**

Cyborg aimed his sonic cannon at Terra.

"BB! Let me blast her, man!"

"N-no!" Beast Boy forced out.

"C'mon, man. Please! Let me blast her!"

_"No!"_ It came out as a growl.

"Why shouldn't he?" Terra asked him. "You think I won't do it? You think I still love you?"

"..."

"Let me tell you something, Garfield: I _never_ loved you!"

**CRACK!**

The rock spike suddenly split down the middle and fell to the ground harmlessly.

**SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-CLINK!**

A circular, thrown explosive with the 'T' emblem on it landed at Terra's feet. She looked down at it in confusion-

**BOOOM!**

The explosion flung Terra away.

"Bard!" Cyborg said in relief, lowering his sonic cannon.

"Robin!" Starfire said the same for him.

Robin swooped in. Bard leviated to the ground beside them. The cross pendant hung from around his neck.

"I almost forgot I could control earth-" He stopped and looked up at the towering Trigon. "...we're gonna need a bigger woodshed..." He half-whispered.

Meanwhile, Terra had just made it back to her feet.

"Roooooaaarrrrrrr!"

Beast Boy, in the shape of a great grizzly beat, loped at her. He reared back his massive paw-

Terra gasped

-and smacked Terra's head clear off her shoulders. Her head bounced away like a child's ball, and the body crumpled to the ground without it.

"..."

The Titans stared in horror at him. Completely shocked and dumbfounded and disbelieving.

Beast Boy returned to his normal self and looked at them.

"...I never told Terra my name was Garfield." He turned to look at her.

The illusion of Terra had fallen away. The body was reptilian and the dismembered head was grotesque and horned. Everyone but Beast Boy shuddered.

**"THE TIME IS UPON US!"** Trigon suddenly rumbled. **"IT IS TIME FOR ALL OF YOU TO DIE..."**

"Titans!" Robin ordered them as he moved. "Out into the street!"

"Great idea." Superboy muttered as he followed. "If we're gonna do this, I wanna have a _lot_ of running room around me..."

"Sooo," Cyborg looked pensively at Robin. "...got a plan?"

"Bard's cross pendant can hurt him." Robin replied. "We're distract him while Bard hangs back. When he sees an opportunity, he'll attack."

Cyborg blinked at him.

"That's it?"

"That's it." Robin nodded somberly.

"That's simple enough." The Ravager droned, slashing the air with her rapier.

They held their breath until-

"Titans!" Robin rallied them, pulling out his birdarang sword. "Go!"

Starfire flew up high, her eyes glowing green.

**ZAF! ZAF! ZAF!**

Trigon ignored her barrage of fiery star bolts.

Bard waited.

Robin and The Ravager ran forward in unison. Robin leapt into Cyborg's bridged hands and The Ravager jumped into Beast Boy's gorilla hands. Cyborg and Beast Boy flung them upward. Airborne, they twisted upside down. The criss-crossed, their swords poised to strike.

**SLAS-SLASSHHHHH!**

Trigon ignored the double gashes on his face.

Bard waited.

**SWOOOOOOOSH!**

Superboy flew around Trigon with super speed, landing blows at random.

**WHURRRRRRR!**

Beast Boy, in pterodactyl form, held Cyborg by his metal shoulder as he peppered the huge demons with blue sonic cannon blasts.

Trigon ignored them all. He started balefully at Bard.

Bard started back. Slowly, deliberately, he took off the cross pendant necklace and held it in his hand like a weapon.

**"COME MEET YOUR FATE, SON!"**

The cowboy's eyes narrowed.

"You're damn straight I will..."

**SWOOSH!**

Bard rocketed up on wind, the cross pendant drawn back in his fist.

**"WATCH YOU BROTHER DIE, RAVEN!"**

But Bard swerved around Trigon's huge, heavy swipe and-

**SLASSSSH!**

-opened up a long cut across his chest with the cross pendant. White steam billowed from it and Trigon roared. He backhanded Starfire and Superboy out of the air. His other palm smashed Bard to the ground. Bard erected an ice shield around himself, but it exploded from the violent crash.

Bard lay prostrate there in the street, cut and disoriented.

Trigon smiled with wicked satisfaction. He lifted his giant foot and brought it down on Bard, who could do nothing but flinch and shut his eyes.

"..."

Bard peeked one eye open to see Tim standing over him, somehow shouldering Trigon's immense weight on h is shoulders. He was covered from head to toe in crimson blood. Long claw marks riddle his whole body.

"Tim...!"

"D-Don't worry..." The big man tried to reassure him. "Not all this blood...is mine..."

Bard stared.

"Urgh..." Tim strained. "This p-p-pansy of a...c-choir boy is...h-heavy...!"

Bard scrambled to safety.

With a superhuman effort, Tim pushed up Trigon's foot just long enough to dive out of the way. Tim rolled to his feet and looked at Bard, panting and bleeding.

"You know what to tell Nicole. It's been fun, Jonny."

Bard throat tightened. He lifted his hand and opened his mouth, but no words came out.

It wouldn't have mattered anyway.

"Hraughhhhhhhhhhhhh_hhhhhhhhhhhhhhh__**hhhhhhhhHH!**_"

Tim grew.

Nine feet.

Twelve feet.

Sixteen feet.

"Bard!" Cyborg yelled. "Tell him to stop!" He's way past the breaking point!"

"He knows..." Bard replied, but it came out as a choked whisper.

At fifty feet, Tim was awesome. At a hundred, he was beyond belief.

He grew.

And grew.

And grew.

When he finally stopped, he was at eye level with Trigon.

Time was utterly insane now. He had no coherent thought whatsoever, only an immense rage that could never be satisfied. He attacked the first thing he was: Trigon's face.

**BAMMMM!**

Trigon fell from the bloow, and the earth resounded with his fall.

Tim's body, on the other hand, couldnt' stand the strain of his size. Just after the blow connected, he returned to his normal size and fell.

**SWOOSH!**

Superboy caught him, but it was too late. Blood leaked freely from his nose and ears.

Trigon was down.

And Tim was dead.

Bard was strangely calm. His eyes were dry. He somehow knew that...now was the time. He clutched the cross pendant tightly in his hands. He knew that now, this very moment, was the time to finish this. And, to reconfirm the fact-

"Bard!" Robin barked. "Now!"

Bard didn't have to be told twice.

**SWOOSH!**

Bard flew at Trigon's downed figure on a current of wind. He narrowed his eyes in determination and tightened his grip on the cross pendant.

_Raven, Amber, Tim, everyone...this is for you-!_

**SLINKKKKKT!**

The world froze and fell silent. Bard saw his friends, their mouths open in soundless exclamations and their hands reaching imploringly at him. He saw the night sky above him, oddly beautiful and cold and detached. Then he looked down.

And saw himself impaled on Trigon's giant claw.

Time resumed. His momentum sent his legs and arms flying forward, along with the cross pendant necklace.

Trigon was laughing and didn't see it. Nor did he see when it was suddenly surrounded by black telekinesis...guiding it.

Trigon stopped laughing when he realized he had swallowed the cross pendant. His eyes grew wide and he gripped at his throat.

**"NO! IMPOSSIBLE!"**

Lumps appeared under Trigon's skin, moving erratically. Then his scaly body seemed to crack, and blinding white light shined out of those lines from within.

**"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**_**OOOOOOOOOOOOO!"**_

Trigon exploded outwards into a billion pieces of nothingness.

Bard fell. Starfire swooped to catch him, but a hand of black telekinesis did instead. Raven levitated down with him and placed him gently on the ground. The others gathered around, and Robi covered Bard's gaping wound with his shredded cape.

"No!" Raven cried. "I didn't want this!"

Bard coughed up blood.

"It...It's a-all right." He stammered and forced out.

"Hold on, Bard!" Cyborg said tersely. "I'll go get help!"

"N-no."

Robin looked away.

"He's right, Cyborg." He said quietly. "It's too late for that.

"There's gotta be _something_ we can do!" Beast Boy pleaded in a desperate, cracking voice. His eyes suddenly lit up. "The necklace! It's gotta be around here somewhere! That can heal him!"

Bard nodded weakly.

"Y-yeah...I want you...to find the cross p-pendant."

Beast Boy stood up from his kneeling position and started to spring away, but Bard caught his arm.

"But...n-not now. L-later."

Beast Boy stared incredulously at him.

"I think...I think it would l-look good on-" He coughed up more blood. "On T-Terra..."

"But-!"

"I unders-stand now." Bard interrupted him. "I did...e-everything I was supposed to d-do. It's time...time for me to go h-home. T-to Amber..."

Raven wept openly.

"Don't be selfish, Bard!" Raven shook his shoulder in gentle rage. "We still need you here. _I love you. I still need you!"_

Bard smiled faintly, showing his bloodstained teeth.

"N-no you don't...Raven. Saying that...proves it."

Raven covered her face with her hands and sobbed.

"N-now..." Bard was too weak to keep his eyes open. "H-help me up."

They all stared at him.

"C-cowboys don't die..." He explained to them in a whisper. "They...they r-ri-ride into the s-sunset. N-now...help me up..."

"Do as he says." Robin ordered quietly. He and Cyborg helped him to his feet. Robin's cape fell away, and the Titans were forced to look away.

"L-let me go n-now." Bard told them gently. "I l-love all of ya'll..."

Teary eyes, Cyborg nodded at Robin and they let Bard go. He looked as if he would fall, but he somehow stayed upright. He managed one feeble step before he fell.

He was dead before he hit the ground.

And Raven wept...


	96. Epilogue

_I knew the stakes were high right from the start_

The sky did not weep the day Bard's body was commited to the earth. Nor did the sun hide its grief behind darkened, gloomy clouds of sorrow. Instead, it was quite the opposite: The sky was as clear as a still mountain lake and the sun shone down proudly and benevolently as if it were bestowing blessings and benedictions upon anyone and everything its light touched. The air was surprisingly temperate and the warm breeze that blew steadily affectionately kissed the skin.

_When she dealt the cards I dealt my heart_

An elderly, black suited priest stood before the small crowd of Bard's family and friends, his nose buried in an old, weatherbeaten Bible. The public memorial would be held later. The Titans had wanted this to be a private affair.

"As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death." The priest read mechanically. "I shall fear no evil, for thou art with me..."

_Now I just found a game that I can't play_

The narrow, wispy-haired blonde girl, clad in a simple black dress, tuned him out and turned to look upon the sad, grim-faced procession of Superboy, Robin, Cyborg and Beast Boy carrying Bard's coffin to its final resting place in an act as old as death itself. Terra had never even seen him in person, only pictures, but she knew how much he had meant to the Titans and Beast Boy...and to herself. She watched the four Titan boys carefully sit the coffin down into the grave. With that task done, Beast Boy immediately turned and clung to her.

Terra heard Beast Boy sniff audibly when the distinctive sound of dirt thudding upon the top of Bard's wooden casket reached their ears. She peeked around Beast Boy's mourning figure and saw the rest of the crowd that had come to see Bard put to rest. Commissioner Walker and his teenage daughter, Holly, was there, along with Nicole, the life under her heart already starting to show. Speedy was there as well, his head bowed respectfully while leaning forward on his bow. And, of course, the other Titans.

_This is where the cowboy rides away_

Robin, stony-faced, held a weeping Starfire despite the black metal brace on his knee. Superboy was turned away, unable to watch and Cyborg was the very picture of solemnity. And Raven stood with her hood up and her head bowed. Her face was hidden, and Terra was inclined to believed it was intentional.

_And my heart is sinking like the setting sun_

After the sad business of burying the cowboy was finished, Commissioner Walker and his daughter caught up with the Titans.

"I'm really sorry, kids." He gave them his condolences. "Bard...was a damn good man."

Robin nodded at him.

"Thank you, Commissioner."

_Setting all the things I wish I'd done_

"Y-you guys might not know this..." Holly stepped forward hesitantly, her arm in a sling. "But...I had the biggest crush on Bard..."

"..."

"O-okay," Holly laughed nervously. "M-maybe you did..."

Starfire wiped at her eyes.

"Friend Bard was indeed lovable."

"Y-yeah..."

_It's hard to say goodbye to yesterday_

"Um..." Terra fidgeted. "Do you guys mind if, ya know, I go and...pay my respects?"

Robin smiled thinly at her.

"We'll wait for you here." He told her gently.

Though Bard's tombstone was only fifty or so yards away, it seemed to Terra that it took her forever to reach it. Once there, she stood before the freshly dug grave nervously, unconsciously grasping the gold cross pendant that hung down from around her neck.

"Um...hi." She waved selfconsciously. "I-I've never talked to a dead person before...so don't hold it against me if I screw it up, okay?"

The breeze pulled at her hair as she took in a long, shuddering breath and collected her thoughts.

"Beast Boy told me about you and showed me pictures of you and stuff. Hehehe, I almost laughed when BB told me Raven had a COWBOY for a brother!" She suddenly stopped. "N-nothing against cowboys, you understand. It's just...heheheh...RAVEN!"

Terra didn't get an answer.

"A-anyway," she continued. "I could tell from BB's stories that he really looked up to you and that he and the other Titans really cared about you."

Silence.

"Well, I-I just wanted to, ya know, say thank you; for giving me and Beast Boy a second chance. I won't...I PROMISE I won't mess it up this time."

_This is where the cowboy rides away_

Her only answer was a warm, carressing breeze. Terra stood there for a moment as if expecting one, but then she bowed her head, turned, and slowly made her way back to the Titans.

_Jonny 'Bard' Johnson_

_? - 2006_

_Forever Remembered As:_

_'The Titans' Song'_

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

_We've been in and out of love and in between_

Later on, Terra sat on the half-circle couch in her room in Titans Tower. The room had felt slightly different when she first entered it again, but she couldn't put her finger on how. She gazed out the large window in front of her at the ocean, feeling a strange combination of melancholy and hope.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Terra!" A muffled voice forced it's way in from outside her door. "It's Beast Boy!"

"Beast Boy, c'mon in."

The green changeling walked into the room, carrying a black notebook under his arm.

"What's that?" Terra asked, pointing at it.

"We found it in Bard's-er-your room the other day." Beast Boy explained. "It's like...a story he wrote. About him being a Titan and stuff."

"You've read it?"

Beast Boy nodded.

"We've been passing it around all day. I wanted to read it first." He admitted. "But we figured Raven should...a-all things considered, ya know."

"Who's turn is it to read now?" Terra asked him.

"Well...that's why I'm here. I wanted you to read it." Beast Boy explained, holding it out to her. "It'll kinda, I dunno, help you get to know him."

"Aw, Beast Boy..." Terra smiled up at him, taking the notebook. "Thank you." She kissed him on the cheek.

_And now we've played the final showdown scene_

Beast Boy laughed nervously, turned beet red, waved and quickly left her alone to read. Terra turned to the notebook, opened it up and, on the very first page, read:

_If you're reading this, it probably means that I've...moved on. That's not a sad thing, so don't make it out to be. I'll miss ya'll, of course, but I'm certain I'll see ya'll again someday._

_Raven: I"ve never been afraid to die...but sometimes I'm afraid to leave you behind. You're a wonderful person, but I don't think you allow yourself to see that. You focus on the worst in yourself instead of the best. I'm afraid that, if I'm not here...you'll allow yourself to be drowned in the darkness. And that's a thought I can't bear. You need faith to light your path. I know your issues with God, but don't worry: I'll work as a go-between. Whenever you need help, just ask me and I'l make sure you get it. What are brothers for? I love you, Raven. Don't ever forget that._

_I love you all. Remember: This is farewell, but it ain't goodbye._

_God Bless You,_

_Jonny_

Terra sniffed back a tear and turned the page.

_**TITANS' SONG**_

_**CHAPTER ONE**_

_**COUNTRIFIED RELATIONS**_

Terra had never considered herself as much of a reader, but she read 'Titans' Song' in one sitting. She didn't exactly mean to, but the pages just seemed to turn themselves. She felt the shocked disbelief of the cowboy when he had found his long-lost sister. She felt the adoration and respect he felt for Starfire, as well as the heartbreak he felt from giving her up. The earth maiden was taken along for the ride, sharing Bard's trials and tribulations and adventures with the Teen Titans: His conversations with Raven. The pain of paralysis. The joy of healing. His brawls with his best friend, Tim. The betrayal and rebirth of ZIllah. The angst of the Robert Gray incident and the exultation of once again finding his true love, only to tragically lose her again.

_And as the credits roll a sad song starts to play_

Terra was there through it all. As she read, she felt as if she had found and was getting to know a new friend. And, as she finished, she truly felt as if she had lost one as well. She sadly set aside the notebook and once again looked out the window before her, the sun much lower than it had been when she had began reading. And as she sat there, her mind contemplative...she realized the truth.

As likable as Bard was, he hadn't been true Titan material. Most of the time, anyway, he could physically take care of himself in a fight. But that was as far as it went. He was never a great help to his teammates and nor was he a dominant solo force that could lay waste to the masses. He had been a bad role model. He'd been next to clueless about the sophisticated technology the Titans had to work with on a regular basis. And he had never, ever been good at obeying orders, much to Robin's chagrin.

_This is where the cowboy rides away_

But that didn't matter. Because, whether or not the Titans had been aware of it or not, they hadn't signed Bard up to be a team member. No, they had signed him up to be a FAMILY member. As a superhero team consisting of robots and aliens and others, the Titans benefited the most from Bard's humanity; it seeped from the cowboy's every pore.

Despite his humanity, Bard's greatest power came from his faith. It gave him a kind of power that separated him from everything else. It was almost as if he had a holy aura around him: Invisible, but almost touchable. A palpable shield of percieved nothingness. But it was everything. And also because of it, respect and kindness enbodied him. Even more than that though, he had a true love that seemed to include everyone and only one at the same time. It was hard for Terra to grasp. Although she might not be able to put it into words...she FELT it.

Terra tucked the notebook under her arm and headed out of the room.

The Titans had lost more than a teammate, a friend, or even a sibling...

They'd lost an angel.

_Yes the last goodbye's the hardest one to say_

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Terra knew she would find Raven on the roof of Titans Tower. During her first stint as a Teen Titan, Terra knew that Raven had much preferred the isolation of her room. But, from reading 'Titan's Song', she now knew Raven's favorite place of solace was the rooftop.

And she was right. Raven sat near the edge of the rooftop, hugging her knees to her chest. It was a sitting position that conveyed vulnerability, and that was new for Terra. Terra had seen many sides of Raven during her stay, but vulnerability or weakness hadn't been one of them.

Raven, Terra knew from experience, always had a kind of forboding presence about her. She never spoke to Raven unless she felt she had to. The dark sorceress of the Titans had always been a private person, and Terra had felt obliged to respect that.

But now it was different. She was much more...approachable. Not like Starfire or Beast Boy, but much better than her former self.

"Was there something you wanted, Terra?"

"Bard's book." Terra said, holding it out. "I came to give it back to you. I'm guessing he would want you to have it."

Raven stood and turned to face her, but Terra made no move to hand her the notebook. The dark sorceress looked at her shrewdly.

"You want to talk about it, don't you?"

Terra nodded slowly.

"Only if you're willing, of course."

Raven took in deep breath and turned to look out at the horizon.

"I think I am..."

"It just...amazes me. Ya know...The Titans and Bard beat Trigon. They beat the _devil_. I still can't believe it."

Raven looked at her evenly.

"That's because they didn't."

Terra blinked.

"They defeated my perception of Trigon...the essence of him that was inside of me. That's all."

Silence fell between them.

Until-

"I know it's not my place...but I gotta ask."

"..." Raven waited.

"Do...do you believe now? What Bard believed, I mean, with God and Jesus and all that?"

Raven turned to look out at the fading sun. She said nothing for the longest time, and Terra thought she wouldn't answer. But then Raven half turned towards her. Tears streamed openly down her face, but her lips were upturned into a serene smile.

"I...I don't know." She replied truthfully. "B-but...Bard did. And I g-guess...I guess that's good enough for me."

Terra felt something significant in the air as she stood there and watched Raven cry and smile. The wind blew, tugging at their hair and whispering something she could almost, but not quite, understand.

And the sun set.

_This is where the cowboy rides away..._

**THE END**

_AUTHOR'S NOTES_

_I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for reading and reviewing this amazing piece of drivel. There are many others I want to thank, but I fear naming them for missing anyone._

_But I must thank Post and Cid. Post, you were and are an amazing influence on me, an inspiration to be sure. You've been a good though eccentric friend, and even politely looked the other way on my oh so blantant plagiarism. And Cid, you've always been my soundboard and advice guy. And you've never complained, which amaze me greatly. Thank you both._

_And thanks to all that have read this._

_Bard of Tales,_

_Lord Belgarion_

_h t t p : / / z 7 . i n v i s i o n f r e e . c o m / S p a c e _ i s _ a _ W a s t e / i n d e x . p h p ? s h o w t o p i c = 2 6 2 0_


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